Brave New World
by RECKLESS SOLDIER-MS
Summary: Set in prenew52 original Detective comics Universe: Having disbanded long ago, the Justice league is suddenly forced back into action when the Joker and a group of otherworldly villains holds the Earth hostage. United by a boy from another world, the league learns not only why the world needs them but why they need one another as the Earth faces another grand crisis.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own the DC universe, Siegfried Reilly is my creation, any similarities to other characters is based on inspiration or coincidence.

Hi followers and new comers. This is one of my second Justice League stories. Its partly a new story and partly a sequal to my Avengers storyline The Hunt. Spoiler: the end of which saw one of the main characters Sieg travel to the DC Universe.

This story carries on the personal story of my OC Sieg in the Struggle of the Apprentice series. It also acts as a continuation of the original DC comics Universe, before Flashpoint. All of the characters and their origins are intact, Roy Harper still has a cybernetic arm, Clark is still married to Lois, Jade, Donna Troy and other deleted characters still exist. This story and future stories take place in the original DC universe without any concepts from the New 52 with the exception of some minor New 52 characters to drive the plot and in future stories I will incorporate New 52 story lines from the Bat and Lantern universes (which were probably the series that were least influenced by New 52).

One expectation I can promise of this story is to see the original seven of the League fighting together again. What brings them together and what influence my character Sieg has on that is something you'll have to find out.

Hope you all enjoy the story

* * *

An original DC Universe story

After many great calamities, what the public referred to every time as a crisis, the great heroes that once protected the world began to retire. The world wasn't left completely defenceless and there was no great announcement. They simply became less active than they used to be. What was felt and seen most by the people of Earth however was the disbanding of the Justice League, Donna Troy, Jade, Congo Bill, Starman, Supergirl, Jesse Quick and Batman no longer worked as a team. They were the final, or at least most recent incarnation of the Justice League. Teams like the Justice Society followed, changing their rosters, combining their old team and their 'All-Stars' team into one, with some members even taking on permanent retirement such as Jay Garrick and Ted Grant. Even the Teen Titans disbanded, though Superboy and Wondergirl were often seen working together. The world had changed, becoming more peaceful, as if the heroes weren't needed anymore.

A year had passed since Dick Grayson's final Justice League related mission. He was working on his own cases, going back to his Nightwing roots. His mentor and father figure, the billionaire orphan Bruce Wayne was the only man to bear the Batman name. Ever since Bruce had lost his parents something had always been off about him. He'd accepted that he wasn't like other people, but he wasn't at all like the psychopaths in Arkham Asylum. Gotham was still a place of corruption and crime, Leviathan was still active and global crime figures were still at a point that required intervention from figures outside of the law. In a way Bruce would always be Batman.

But for one night he wouldn't worry about the suit or Batman Inc. There was something else that had his interest. Dressed in a pair of jeans a black turtleneck, Bruce sat at the bat computer, his teenage son Damian was practicing with the training dummies and Alfred was getting out of the elevator with a tea trolley. His loyal servant and father figure moved with his usual dignified pose, disciplined but always ready for trouble. The former British intelligence agent often joked that Bruce's paranoia had passed to them. Bruce didn't mind, paranoia had actually made his life easier. Even with Talia and her Leviathan organisation in hiding, Bruce still prepared for her reappearance, just as he always prepared for the possible, not the definite appearance of the next threat. Villains wouldn't always remain inactive or reformed, even heroes could go off the deep end. His abundance of contingency plans had nearly destroyed the league once, Ra's Al Ghul had gotten his hands on plans Bruce had put to computer. Bruce had learnt from that, he had dedicated his contingencies to the only storage device he needed, his own mind.

"I remember the times you used to look up through your telescope, Damian has taken up the same activity," Alfred smiled as he placed a cup of tea at Bruce's side table.

"He's not stargazing, he's monitoring disturbances in Earth's orbit, just as I have been," Damian said, battering the training dummies with his Escrima sticks.

Alfred took a closer look at the monitor and narrowed his eyes at the images. They were indeed diagrams and pictures taken from a Wayne satellite that was monitoring the distortion that had formed in Earth's orbit. It had become a phenomenon that had fascinated civilians and disturbed scientists. A small minority of people had even claimed to see a reflection of the Earth in the mirror like singularity that formed in space.

"Yes, have you considered giving Mr Jordan a call?" Alfred asked.

"Hal isn't a Green Lantern anymore," Bruce said.

"What happened?"

"Something about a war between the Lantern Corps, we don't talk much!"

The abrupt response was enough for Alfred to drop it. He knew Bruce and Hal Jordan's respect for one another was deep but they didn't show it and when the League was first formed they bickered a lot. Bruce put a hand to his chin as he zoomed in on the images of the anomaly. He then narrowed his eyes, pausing the image as the light of the portal grew brighter. The images were slightly blurred but there was a silhouette that Bruce pointed towards.

"Did something go through the portal?" Damian asked, jumping to the computer.

"No Damian, someone went through it before it closed," Bruce pointed out the silhouette.

It wasn't an object but a person.

* * *

**This is my story, I was not born on this Earth, I wasn't even born in this universe. My full name is Siegfried Wallace, but I like going by the name Sieg Reilly, Sieg is what all of my friends called me and Reilly is the last name of my adopted father Sven Reilly. The universe I come from is very different from this one. There are completely different alien races, completely different heroes and there is no Metropolis, no Star City, Gotham, Central or Keystone city. We had our own super heroes and I grew up in the shadow of their adventures. They faced different villains and different events that would have destroyed the world if not for them. But they weren't perfect either, they went through a Civil War with one side looking to follow the government's commands and another side wishing to remain anonymous as all heroes did. That registration act divided the super hero community. For a while the heroes remained divided right up until the time I started getting more involved in the super human community.**

**My adopted father took me in because my biological father Heinrich Wallace abandoned me. I suppose Heinrich thought Sven would do a better job of protecting me, he had done so in the past after all. A villainous group known as the Dawn, led by a warlord called Muramasa was intent on capturing me because of my X-gene, an abnormality in my genetic makeup caused my father's experiments in discovering the true origin of the mutant race. When the Dawn came knocking, Sven protected me and as I got older he treated me as a son. He taught me, trained me and ultimately gave me all of the power I needed to protect myself and make my own way.**

**There is a world beyond all others, a world that can only be seen by a few. This realm of spirits is a world of infinite possibilities, where power necessary to protect the world can be claimed by those pure enough to use it. Sven helped me to find the spirit that was best suited to me, a spirit of faith born from my faith in Sven and further enhanced when I joined the adventures of the heroes I grew up worshipping.**

**There came a time unlike any other, when the fate of not just our world but the entire universe hung off of a thread. Sven and his spirit knights joined with the mightiest heroes of my world and fought to defend it. But the portal that linked our world to this one could only be closed by a spirit knight. Sven made the decision to close the portal, but I beat him to it. I left my father and all of the friends I had made behind to enter a new world. But nothing has changed, I was taught to put others lives before my own, to protect the world even if it isn't my own. I'll protect this world from any threat.**

* * *

Brave New World

Chapter 1: Aeon

Metropolis was a good place to live, provided you weren't one of the unlucky people to fall victim to a super villain attack. Such attacks were rare but they still occurred, especially with the disbanding of the Justice League. One of the Justice League's long time foes had taken up their old ways again. King looked at the hostages set out on the ground, they were all terrified and once had the mindset that nothing bad happened in Metropolis. A few criminals were still afraid of hitting the city, paranoid that they would be the one villain that would get Superman back in the air. King however didn't have that fear, even if Superman did come the same thing would happen as always, the good guy would beat him down and send him to a prison. Being immortal offered little in the way of fear for King, he had gotten his face fried by the Joker and it had taken him years to grow back.

But King wasn't going to settle for being a mere witness. He wanted money as did the rest of his gang. His Royal Flush Gang was back to small time jobs, but they would build themselves towards something greater. First they'd hit the Metro bank, then Gotham's trust fund gala, moving on to the art exhibit in Star City and then the Federal Reserve. Or at least that was the plan, once they could afford some hired help. At the moment it was just King, the cyborg Jack, card-wielding assassin Queen, gothic energy manipulator Ten and the muscle of the team Ace. The humanoid android towered over the guards, with Jack ready to blast them with the laser built into his eye. King placed the drawers of cash into the trolley, whilst Queen cut open the diamond drawers and placed them into a bag.

"Hurry up Ten the police will be here soon," King said.

"Supergirl's attending to a Volcano eruption in the tropics, and I doubt Superman is going to get involved in a simple robbery," Ten explained.

"Do you want to be the one who finds that out the hard way, we've got everything we need for our partner," Queen stated, putting her cards away.

"Come on lets go," King said impatiently.

Jack looked to the entrance of the bank; he couldn't hear any police incoming. If everything was going according to plan their partner would be making a scene to divert the first responders. He still had the uneasy feeling that something wasn't right. His cybernetic eye narrowed as he looked at the far corner of the ceiling. A sadistic grin spread across his face.

"I see you," he said.

He fired his laser, only for it to be deflected, nearly hitting King's head.

"Whose there?" Queen demanded.

"_**Guess I can throw stealth out of the window!"**_

The voice that emanated from the attacker had an echo effect. He jumped from the shadows of the ceiling, fully revealing himself to the gang. He wore a suit of white and blue armour, like a knight or a Japanese mecha. The closest thing that Jack could think of to describe it was those Japanese shows about the armoured heroes, with the bad martial arts and the even worse acting. An intimidating grey and red sword was attached to the man's right arm and worked on some kind of mechanism, that the gang saw in action. The sword first pointed past the man's elbow, but it quickly slid outwards with the blade end pointing past his wrist. He pointed the blade at the Royal Flush gang, narrowing his glowing blue eyes at them.

"A rookie mistake hero, maybe you should have joined the Titans, only a fool goes in without back up when hostages are involved," King smirked.

The armoured man huffed and the Royal Flush Gang widened their eyes. One by one the hostages were coated in some kind of crystallised armour, not as detailed as the hero facing down the gang, but enough to protect them from anything the gang could come out with.

"_**Do yourselves a favour and give up," **_he said.

"The hell with that," Ten growled.

She fired a blast from her hand, throwing the armoured man back and sending him crashing into the service kiosk.

"Shortest debut ever," Jack chuckled.

"_**You think so?"**_

Jack and Ten snarled as the armoured man hovered away from the kiosk. He dragged his sword across the ground as he flew towards the Gang.

"TAKE HIM DOWN!" King yelled at Ace.

The android ran towards the armoured man, aiming a punch for his face. But the hero ducked at the last minute and swept his blade through Ace's elbow. The android widened his eyes as his arm fell to the floor. Then the hero swung his sword two more times before jumping off of Ace's head, the androids left arm and leg fell apart as the hero landed in front of Jack and Ten. They fired their lasers at the same time and the hero quickly crossed his arms together. He groaned in subtle pain as the force of the blasts pushed him backwards. King looked at the trolley full of cash and towards the entrance. He grabbed the trolley and ran around the hero. But the armoured man paid the immortal no heed. He formed two crystal shields that deflected the energy blasts, hitting the ceiling above Queen. Debris rained down on her, striking her head and knocking her out. The shields then turned into shards that flew towards the energy manipulators. One pierced Jack's eye just enough to shut down his laser, and the others hit the baggy areas of Ten's dress, pinning her to the nearest wall. The armoured hero then ran towards the Jack, delivering a fierce punch to his face. He crashed to the floor unconscious.

"Bastard," Ten growled, ripping her dress as she tore herself from the wall.

She fired a blast from her hand, hitting the armoured hero's helmet. He yelled in pain as a piece of his helmet shattered, revealing human flesh around a blue eye. Ten didn't have long to celebrate her victory as the young man grabbed her by the head and slammed her against the wall.

"_**A little rough but its gets the job done," **_he said as he clicked his fingers together.

The crystal constructs around the hostages shattered and much to their shock they found four fifths of the Royal Flush Gang incapacitated. King on the other hand was shocked to see his transportation disabled. The wheels of his truck had been turned into crystal boulders, making it impossible for the vehicle to drive. He turned, only to run into the armoured hero.

"_**Lets take a little ride shall we?" **_the hero wasn't asking as he grabbed the collar of King's coat and flew above the entrance.

"Who the hell are you?" King demanded.

"_**Call me Aeon, I'm in a bit of a rut King, you hit this bank with just a truck, no offence but that isn't exactly going to stop the police from chasing you and it wont outrun Supergirl once she gets back and has done away with your little distraction," **_Aeon explained.

"What are you talking about?"

_**"Yeah cause its just a coincidence that the Atomic Skull attacks the first responders. How did you two get in touch, how were you planning to escape metro PD?"**_

"Who do you think you are, Batman? You're no Batman, I once ratted out the Joker to Batman and believe me when I tell you that you are no Batman," King laughed.

"_**I'm the new guy on the block King, keep that in mind, you have no idea what I'm capable of," **_Aeon snarled.

"You can't threaten me, I'm immortal."

"_**Good to know," **_Aeon chuckled as he flew a few feet higher.

King widened his eyes as the armoured man let him go.

* * *

Lois Lane considered herself one of the biggest reporters on super human related news. So naturally when there was a new hero in town she had to get involved in getting the big scoop. After all she wrote the famous articles on Superman and other Metropolis hero's like Supergirl, Steel and Guardian. She stood with a crowd of journalists and cameramen looking at the scene where the Royal Flush Gang had been arrested. Or more like massacred, pieces of Ace were being carried away and King had been pinned to the wall with a note saying 'Royal Flush courtesy of Aeon!'

'Leaving a note at beaten criminals, who does that?' Lois wondered.

"Cameras went off round about the time the gang entered the bank chief, most of the hostages are accounted for, even a kid who was hiding in one of the closets," one of the officers explained to the detective.

"Don't tell me he had an accident," the detective said.

"No but he was cowering, said he got out of there as soon as they started yelling at people, the kid might be eighteen I think."

"Teenagers, they act all tough and confident and then when trouble starts they become cowards," the detective sighed.

Lois crossed over the police line and went towards one of the ambulances.

"They came in, wounded some of the guards and then yelled at everybody to get down, I tripped the silent alarm like I was trained to before the big guy pulled me away from my workstation," she listened in as the police questioned one of the hostages. "They started arguing about something and then…he came, at least I think it was a he, it could have been a woman or a robot like Red Tornado. Anyway, he dropped from the ceiling and suddenly, these crystals started to surround me, I imagined it was like being frozen, but it felt…warm and safe and then a few seconds later the crystal shattered and I was truly safe."

Lois noted the hostage's awe. Some were still in shock but were thankful to be alive nonetheless. She had a lot to write about when she returned to the Planet.

* * *

Andre Briggs stood before the world defence council. They were an international task force formed in the aftermath of the Swamp Thing event, when a black version of the Swamp Thing rampaged across America. Their identities were unknown but Briggs had it on good authority that they were all experts on super human activity.

"I'll be blunt council, the world still has heroes but they are in need of a team of icons, a group that can rally them when their needs are severe," Andre explained.

The darkened images of the seven council members looked down at Briggs. He had long been a supporter of a UN sanctioned Justice League. But his attempts to reform the JLI were always faced with opposition.

"Super villains attacks have certainly escalated," council one said.

"But there is a danger that reforming the League would lead to further escalation," said council two.

"What exactly did you have in mind Briggs?" council four asked.

"The formation of a team sir, sanctioned by the UN government, the Justice League Task force," Briggs pushed a button on his console and bought up several images. "I have spent the past few months gathering intelligence and approaching super heroes both old and new, offering them incentives to join a team," Briggs explained.

"Quite a collection you've gained, but some of these members might be problematic," Council three said.

"Don't worry councillors, I've picked out seven of the best candidates to represent the major corners of the world, they are as follows:"

"From Japan Atomic Lantern Man," he showed the image of a young man wearing a green coat with some kind of harness around it. "Formerly of the Super Young Team he went under the name…Big Atomic Lantern Boy, our public relations team have recommended a new image for him and he seems to like it, our tech experts have also upgraded his suit!"

"From Africa and to also represent Batman Inc we have Batwing, he wasn't easy to come by," Briggs sighed as he showed the image of an African American man wearing a blue suit of armour, the armour had bat like wings on its back and a bat symbol on the chest.

"The Russian government was happy to provide us with Gavril Ivanovich or rather Gavril was happy to offer his services," Briggs smiled as he highlighted the image of the current Rocket Red, he wore a lighter version of the armour he wore when he helped the original JLI team and Blue Beetle. His suit was a red and white colour and included a rocket pack and blasters on his wrists. "As well as his suit he is also capable of talking to machines!"

"We have a former Russian terrorist, a reject from a team no one's heard of a poor substitute for Batman, and one could say this team is more of a political stunt. Why are you so worried about diversity, our concern should be on operatives that can handle the work, not people who wont offend," councillor five explained.

"Batwing is more effective an operative than one would think, Gavril loves his country enough to fight it and Lantern Boy and his team were central players in the last Crisis. Yes this is a political stunt, its to show that heroes from all corners of the world can be united, unity is the goal we are aiming to achieve," Briggs explained.

"What about Icons, you said this team had to have icons on it," council one said.

"That's why Uncle Sam will serve as second in command and the team's muscle," the image of the famous hero, based on the propaganda poster appeared. "I've also worked on getting new heroes to serve as part of the team. Godiva shall represent Britain and can offer subtlety," afterwards the image of a blonde haired woman in a white suit appeared.

"She's also likely to get herself killed, her hair is the only weapon she has," council seven huffed.

"It isn't all about the power councillor, but if power is something you're looking for then how about August General In Iron to represent China," the image of a creature made out of iron appeared, his skin seemed to resemble a suit of armour with a staff like weapon completing his 'general' look.

"I see and who shall lead this team?" council six asked.

"The newest hero, Galaxor," Briggs seemed to over sell the presentation of the last image. It showed a blonde haired man in a black suit with gold bands, boots and a chest plate.

"Galaxor? What a stupid name," council seven huffed.

"He picked it, public relations is working on a good name, but his actions speak louder than his choice of name. Already he's an icon for his home country Australia and has even protected Americans, he's extremely popular and he's eager to serve," Briggs explained.

"Perhaps too eager," council two muttered.

"The fact is council the world will always need a Justice League and there's no sign of them getting back together anytime soon," Briggs said.

The council remained silent, considering their options.

"The council votes in favour, form your unity squad Briggs, once the first crisis hits we'll see how effective they can be," council one said before cutting the council's connection.

Briggs smiled; the world would get the Justice League they deserved.

* * *

Lois really wanted to cover the Aeon story. But Clark had been on it since the first signs of the young hero began to appear. The mild mannered reporter had the appearance of an ordinary man. But he was far from ordinary. Ever since his encounters with the Legion of Super heroes in his youth, Clark knew that he was destined for something great. He didn't fight for the grand legacy though, as Superman he simply wanted to reach the world in a positive way and he had done just that. The world was a better place, and Clark was comfortable putting the cape aside for a while. Kara was starting to adjust well as a solo super hero. Then signs came up of the hero Aeon, Bruce always made a point of pointing out that the incidents started happening after the distortion in space disappeared. A crane in Texas nearly fell on top of civilians, but crystal pillars stopped it from falling. An elevator in the Lex tower building broke, but forensics found that crystals had been used to repair the brakes. Even criminals were unexpectedly stopped by the sudden appearance of the crystals that followed Aeon.

He first appeared in public during the Batman of Japan and the Super Young Teams battle against a lizard creature. The monster had been rampaging through the city in typical Godzilla fashion. Just as the Japanese Batman was contemplating bringing in outside help, Aeon suddenly appeared. He created crystal constructs that formed shields to protect the innocents and the shields flew with him as he flew around the creature. Clark brought up the Youtube video that had gone viral a mere twenty four hours after it was taken. The blue and white armoured man flew around the creature, redirecting his shields when necessary. Whoever was holding the camera nearly fell victim to a piece of falling debris, but a crystal shield blocked the rubble. He ran to another position and watched as Aeon flew Aquazon (formerly called Shiny Happy Aquazon, though many of the Super Young team members abandoned aspects of their codenames) in his arms to Superbat and Canary.

'Was he giving them orders, or a warning perhaps?' Clark wondered.

Aeon then held his arm out and Sonic Lightning suddenly appeared. The speedster had an expression of shock on his face as the armoured man gripped his shoulders and spoke to him. Sonic Lightning's nervous expression seemed to fade as the man whispered something in his ear. The speedster then rushed off and Aeon seemed to wait for a few moments. Whatever the lizard creature was called walked closer towards Aeon, who waited until the lizard was inches away from him. Clark paused the video and saw that Sonic Lightning had passed by Aeon and whispered something into his ear. As soon as Clark continued the video, Aeon rushed up the lizard, dragging his sword clean through the giant's belly and splitting the jaw in half. The lizard then crashed to the ground, Aeon looked around before flying away. It was later discovered that Sonic Lightning had ran faster than he ever had before, evacuating the surrounding area, even causing the cameraman to drop his camera.

'He encouraged the speedster to evacuate the surrounding area, made sure the Super Young Team was clear and even flew around the beast to determine whether it was a sentient creature. When everyone was clear he then killed the monster,' Clark listed off the qualities of Aeon, he saved lives first and foremost, property damage was the last thing on his mind.

"Kent, where's Lois?" he heard the Daily Planet's Editor Perry White call for him.

Clark saved his data and rose from his workstation. Many people said that the Daily Planet was struggling, but that was the case with all organisations that were slow to change. Perry was changing the Daily Planet, expanding it so that it would have a global influence in news. That included the formation of an internet news site and even phone apps. Clark put on his jacket and turned to the editor as he bought in an intern. One aspect of the Daily Planet's change included the formation of an internship program so that new ideas could be bought to light.

"She's on an assignment Perry," Clark said.

"Fine, she can meet Siegfried later," Perry said.

Clark looked at the young intern with Perry. He was probably eighteen years old, at least as old as Kara. The young man had a mess of black hair, natural spikes had formed without gel, showing little care for his appearance. He had an athletic build, like a climber or a free runner. His wardrobe consisted of a red shirt with a thin, short sleeved jacket, the jacket was a black colour with white markings on the pockets and across the shoulders, it also had a grey hood attached to it. He also wore a pair of black trousers and a pair of red and white sneakers. A pair of black gloves covered his hands and wrists; they were very thin and built primarily for style and not warmth. His red shirt covered his belt, but not the gold belt buckle, which had a very distinct symbol on it. It was a Hebrew symbol of faith.

"Actually I prefer Sieg Mr White," the young man said sheepishly.

"And once you've earned your place here you might be able to get away with calling me Perry, but never chief," Perry growled. "Anyway, show Reilly the ropes and keep him out of trouble," he walked out of Clark's office space and left him with his intern.

"Nice to meet you Mr Reilly, my names Clark, Clark Kent and welcome to the planet," he offered the boy his hand.

"Its an honour to meet you Mr Kent, you were the runner up for the Pulitzer last year right?" Sieg asked nervously.

"I lost to my wife," Clark chuckled.

"No offence but she's the better writer…I hope you don't take offence to that," Sieg rubbed his head.

"I don't, just don't tell Lois that, so where will you be working when not on assignment?"

"Mr White doesn't want me writing articles just yet, I'll be working in archives," Sieg said.

"I see, well I hope you enjoy working here Sieg and try not to be too nervous," Clark smiled.

"Thank you Mr Kent, I mean Clark," Sieg chuckled.

* * *

"There's the thing about these super heroes, the lack of concern for public property, for the tax payers dollars," though there was considerable adoration for super heroes, there were also many critiques.

One such critique was Jordan Neville, the main host of the show Keep Heroism Legal. There weren't many viewers; in fact it was one of the lowest rated shows in America. Which was why people were confused as to why it was the only program they could watch on TV. Complaints flew in from across the country all asking why the hateful show was the only thing that could be watched.

"Look at this guy, Aeon he calls himself, why the hell does he call himself Aeon in the first place? Superman and Batman you can get but Aeon, he pulls a name out of his ass, gets himself a costume and he thinks he's a hero, its like that Super Young Team, rip offs of all the icons and they don't even do anything. Then we have the Teen Titans, who sanctioned this group of minors to take down bad guys," Jordan ranted to a live studio audience.

Jordan Neville and his followers were not a minority, which was a curious thing to many people. The group believed that heroes had to act to a certain standard, that there had to be a number of heroes at any time including an equal number of heroes from every nation and race. They didn't account for the fact that many heroes became so because of circumstance, believing that the very existence of heroes had to be politically correct and right. Which was a contradiction since a certain detective had it on good authority that Jordan Neville was a former member of the Westboro Baptist Church.

"Just look at the original Justice League, a woman whose dressed like a whore, and four white men, how can this line up be called the greatest line up ever, where's the diversity?"

"You know the 'all black men are overly sensitive about diversity' used to be kind of funny, but this guy is ridiculous," Guy Gardner huffed.

Hal nodded his head in agreement. John Stewart simply shook his head. The former marine and current Green Lantern officer had put up with moments of racism when he was growing up but it had never been a big issue with him. He was also a practical minded man, what good was a symbol if it hadn't actually achieve something. His heroes Mandela and Dr King had achieved things, the 'KHL' group wanted heroes to exist to promote religions and political groups. But propaganda didn't have the same effect that it used to have. John became a marine to serve his country, not because he saw a poster of a black officer.

"One way to get rid of racism, is to stop talking about it," John said.

"This guy is a bit of an idiot, I mean the original League had J'onn in it and Clark, both aliens…doesn't really get more diverse than that," Hal chuckled.

"Besides why are we even talking about this, how have things been going at Ferris aircrafts?" John asked.

"Fine, we're testing a new aircraft for the military," Hal said.

"Asked her to marry you yet?" Guy grinned.

"Say Guy who did the breaking up, you or Tora?" Hal asked, grinning as Guy glared at him.

"Easy you two," John said.

"Yeah, remember that I've still got my ring Jordan!"

"Did you have it on when Batman knocked you out with one punch?"

"You son of a…"

"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" John yelled.

The two men looked to John as he pointed at the TV. Jordan wasn't ranting anymore, in fact the man had gone silent as a voice echoed through the studio.

"HA! HA! HA!" the laugh was sarcastic and had little energy to it, but the voice was instantly recognisable. "And I thought my jokes were bad, you're bringing race into super heroics? Or maybe its because you were raised in ignorance, it couldn't have been easy, being gay and living in such an environment. But don't worry I believe in diversity as well," the Joker laughed. "Which is why, I'm going to kill everyone in this room, regardless of the colour of their skin or what preference they have!"

The doors of the studio were suddenly thrown open. Baby dolls with wings on their backs flew through the studio, spewing a green gas from their mouths. Jordan rose from his seat, looking at his audience in horror. A grinning white face suddenly appeared in front of the camera. Joker swung the camera around, giving the whole of America the perfect view of the massacre. People stumbled over their seats as the gas consumed them.

"Hello America, Joker's back in town, I've been away for quite some time you see, I've been doing some sightseeing, reading some good books…well translate reading to watching inspiring videos on Youtube, I found one about the Westboro Baptist Church…and people say I'm crazy," the Joker muttered. "But don't worry folks, you don't need to worry about me killing you because you're gay or because I don't like your skin colour…hell look at my skin colour, that would be the excuse everyone picks for me," he giggled.

The screams of the victims began to slowly fade, replaced by horrific laughter. The smoke began to clear, revealing the grins forced over the audiences faces.

"What is this about?" Jordan asked.

"Its to make a point, no…to establish the truth, in the eyes of me and my friends…you are all equally as worthless," Joker produced a gun from his coat and pointed it at Jordan.

"NO!"

Jordan shielded his face with his arms. A flag popped out of the barrel of the gun. Jordan drew his hands away from his face. Joker laughed as the flag shot out of the gun, piercing Jordan's skull.

"The old flag out of the barrel trick, you've got to love the classics. Here's another classic, before I came here I planted bombs on the foundation of this building and in the surrounding area. I also got into the studio with several mystery guests, an Injustice League or Society or Legion, whatever term you want to use to describe us go ahead, unless there's a super hero team out there capable of taking us down in the next twenty four hours then I will detonate those bombs and trust me…a building collapsing is the least of your worries. You should all know me and what I'm capable of, there's no negotiating with me, so come heroes try to stop me and my friends, the world is counting on you!"

Joker grinned before he threw the camera to the ground. The three Green Lanterns (one former) widened their eyes in shock. In Gotham Bruce narrowed his eyes, there was always more to the Joker than he claimed. Whatever the Joker was planning there was more to it than the threat of a building full of hostages. If Joker said the world depended on them, then there was a good chance his plan did involve the whole world.

'The world needs the Justice League,' the dark knight thought as he rose from his chair.

Next Chapter 2: First Responders

* * *

Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. The seven council members will play essential roles in the story and the Joker's 'friends' will be some familiar but different faces. Galaxor is not an OC, he was a short lived character in the Injustice comic series.

Next time the Justice League Unity squad is unveiled and Batman investigates King's partners.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

Been waiting long everyone? I hope this chapter turns out to have been worth the wait

* * *

Brave New World

Chapter 2: First Responders

Lois Lane-Kent considered herself one of the luckiest reporters in Metropolis. She had had the privilege of being the first responder to the greatest events on Earth. Her Pulitzer prize had been earned through not only dedication to her job, but being close to those events. Being the wife of one of the most important men in the world had made her career. She had her own merits of course but part of Lois owed Clark for coming into her life. Lois stood with other reporters at the sight of the hall of justice. The government had taken a grant to rebuild the damage done to the hall after the blackest night disaster. Lois knew what the big announcement was about, the government with all their flaws and after everything they had learnt were still trying to make a government sponsored Justice League. Justice League International had been successful until the days of their expansion but the only branch of the League that seemed to always get back on its feet was the Justice League of America. Or at least that was what people typically called it.

"For too long we have had to rely on a league coming to save us when they are most needed, for too long we've had to put up with a league divided by their insignificant differences, league members too busy to unite because they had to deal with their own problems. Well it ends here, from now on the League stands together to face whatever threat that comes, be it from space or from the depths of our planet itself, I proudly present to you the Justice League Unity Division," Andre Briggs proudly showed off the heroes he had gathered.

Lois looked at the roster with a mixture of approval and surprise. August was an icon in his native China, but Rocket Red didn't have the best relationship with his government. Godiva had spent most of her career fighting street thugs, not the kind of threats the league faced. Lantern boy proved himself capable of surviving during Darkseid's attack, yet he had worked as part of a team of friends dedicated to protecting one another and they had Mr Miracle with them too. Uncle Sam didn't have the best track record with his teams, his Freedom Fighters consisting of young heroes were massacred by the society during the Infinite Crisis, including Sam's long time friend the Human Bomb. Batwing was a good member of Batman Inc, he had survived Leviathan's relentless attack against Batman's allies but the league offered a different kind of enemy than the league of assassins.

"To join the Justice League is a privilege, to be asked to lead them is a dream come true, I've followed the League's exploits since I was a kid," Galaxor explained.

Galaxor was someone else Lois was unsure of. She had a source in Australia that said Mitchell Davies; AKA Galaxor was a nice guy but a former steroid abuser. He had been so obsessed with getting the body of a super hero that he turned to a highly dangerous enhancement formula, with steroids serving as the basis. The Australian government then threw a power suit on him and told him to go off and be a hero. Australia got its own hero and Mitchell was good with small time threats. The only question was whether he could survive the kind of threats the League faced on a daily basis. The kind of threats that her husband survived.

"Seen the good part?" a familiar voice asked her.

Lois smiled as she turned to her husband. Clark smiled back and then focused on the Australian undergoing questioning. He looked at the man's heart beating with his X-ray vision. It was the kind of heart beat Clark expected from Barry and his family, not a man like Galaxor whose powers were super strength and energy generation. His heart was beating as if he was constantly running a marathon whilst lying during an interrogation. Galaxor was a few beats a minute away from having a heart attack and the government expected him to lead a team of super heroes in missions that decimated even trained military teams. The kind of threats the League faced were not for the faint hearted or weak willed, and especially not for the inexperienced as proven by the many deaths of the Justice League Detroit members. Even though August, Uncle Sam and Hawkman were experienced, Sam was used to being in charge, with little success and Carter had become increasingly reckless since the White Lantern claimed Shayera.

"So you must be the new kid, good to meet you Siegfried," Lois said to the young man following Clark.

"Please call me Sieg Mrs Kent, Um Mrs Kent-Lane, Miss Lane?" the boy rubbed his head nervously.

"Just call me Lois Sieg, that's German right?" she asked.

"It's a variation of the German word for victory peace, from what I know about my family they were originally from Germany," Sieg explained.

He looked over Lois's shoulder at the heroes on stage and shared the same uncertain expression Clark had.

"Some of these guys I've heard of, others I haven't, didn't Uncle Sam's original team die?" he asked.

"Most died, a few just died later," Clark lowered his head, thinking of Damage, Grant Emerson was the son of Al Pratt, the original Atom and had been a super hero with great potential.

Grant had been part of several incarnations of the Titans before joining Uncle Sam's Freedom Fighters. But on his first mission with the team he was brutally scarred by Zoom. He went onto join the Justice Society of America but was killed during the Blackest Knight. His girlfriend Judomaster went onto form a trust for families that had lost homes because of Damage's explosive powers.

"I heard, so sad," Sieg lowered his head slightly. "Everything they did and they died like that."

"Our deaths aren't what gives us meaning but our lives, how we live them and what we do," Clark said.

"Makes sense," Sieg smiled.

"He occasionally comes out with some wisdom, but it doesn't get him a prize," Lois grinned.

"I'm sorry but we need to cut the interviews short," Andre said, guiding the League members to an armoured truck.

Clark and Sieg both looked at the truck, suspicious as to why the interviews had suddenly been cut short. The intern didn't have the benefit of Kryptonian hearing. Focusing on the sounds deep within the city, Clark picked up a radio broadcast over someone's I-phone.

"NYPD have formed a perimeter around the broadcast station but access has been cut off by a network of trees that have covered the area. The Joker made his demands clear when he threw a laughing gas bomb out at fleeing employees."

Clark then focused on the truck, even though it had lead shielding he could still hear the briefing going on within the vehicle.

"Five hours ago the broadcasting building in New York was attacked, specifically the studio that sponsors Jordan Neville's show," Briggs explained.

"Jordan Neville? Was he okay?" Galaxor asked.

"He and thirty percent of the building staff have been killed, the rest are being held as hostages, a network of vines and trees then formed around the area of the building, cutting off police access. Joker has made only one demand, that the Justice League stop him, this is your first mission team and possibly your most important, Joker states that he has a bomb, considering his body count and methods in the past we cant dismiss the idea that he's telling the truth."

"So you want us to go in, take out the Joker and his bomb and secure the hostages?" Carter asked.

"That's one part of it Hawkman," Briggs said.

"This is dangerous, Joker doesn't want us, he wants the real Justice League, with **his** Batman," Batwing said.

"But this is too big a chance to pass up right, if we take the Joker in and save New York then we'll be as big as the original Justice League," Lantern Boy said.

"The original League saved the planet kid, doesn't get much bigger than that," Uncle Sam muttered.

"My team helped to save reality, it doesn't get much bigger than that," Lantern Boy retorted.

"This posturing is useless, Batwing is there some way you could get a hold of Batman? He knows more about the Joker than anyone and it would be wise to seek his advice," Augustus explained.

"No, knowing his reputation he'll want to take over, we are the first responders, the only Justice League left," Galaxor said.

"Your authority pose is cute honey but this might be too big for us," Godiva said.

"What's the point of us being called the Justice League if we can't handle our first threat alone?" the Australian asked.

"If we don't trust the Justice League to help us then we'll end up being as short lived as Detroit," Hawkman said.

"Enough all of you, the old League isn't here, we are and it's our duty to stop the Joker no matter what kind of plan he has waiting for us," Galaxor explained.

Judging from their heartbeats the team was obviously a lot more confident after Galaxor's speech. Clark however wasn't so confident. He turned to his wife and put on a smile for her sake.

"Yeah I can tell when you're not really confident Clark, and where did our new apprentice go?" she asked.

Clark's eyebrows shot up; he'd been so focused on listening to the new league that he hadn't noticed Sieg disappear. The dark haired youth had been on the other side of the truck, using a stethoscope he had kept on him to listen in on the conversation. He put the equipment back in his jacket's inner pockets and broke off into a run into the alleyway. Sieg ran up one of the walls and then jumped off of it, grabbing the ladder of the fire escape on the opposite wall. After climbing to the top of the roof he watched the truck drive away from the reporters and build up speed on the road. He took a pair of binoculars from his pocket and watched the truck speed down the road. His eyes widened as the wheels of the truck folded, creating hover pads. The car had been building up speed like a plane and used its hover pads to take off into the air.

"I wont get there in time, but maybe Aeon can," Sieg grinned as he formed his armour.

Within moments Sieg had transformed into his other self, the spirit knight Aeon.

* * *

King let out a sigh as he was led to the interrogation room. Within months of being transferred to Gotham PD's custody he was to be personally questioned by Commissioner Gordon himself. The police pushed him onto a chair and left him alone with the commissioner. James Gordon, a man whom had served as commissioner of the slowly recovering police department was as famous in the city as its resident vigilante. He, with the help of the said vigilante had bought the city back from the brink of madness. Gordon adjusted his glasses as he looked at King.

"Good to see you recovered Mr Carny, I cant say the same for Ace," Gordon said.

"Ace is a robot, and I am immortal, so really there's nothing you can threaten me with," King laughed.

"But I recon there's something your friends will do to you that you're really afraid of."

"Friends? There's an understanding between the gang, we help one another out, we don't need to threaten each other," King explained.

"I'm not talking about your gang, off shore accounts aren't as sacred as people think anymore King, the authorities can look into them and considering my sources I have a pretty descent knowledge of your accounts and activities, the Ace model was advanced but not good enough to take on this new hero, the model used materials registered to a company that doesn't exist anywhere on this Earth…who gave it to you?" Gordon asked.

King looked at Gordon for a moment before he broke off into laughter.

"We're done here," he said.

"Not by a long shot King, if you wont talk to me then you'll talk to my friend," Gordon said.

He rose from his seat and walked towards the exit.

"You're not an intimidating man Gordon," King scoffed.

"Ever heard of good cop bad cop? Get ready to meet the bad cop," Gordon smirked before he slammed the door behind him.

The lights within the interrogation room suddenly went out and King gasped. His heart rate had suddenly become a lot faster, especially as he heard someone breathing behind him. A gloved fist grabbed his hair and slam him head first into the edge of the table. The force of the blow cut his nose open and blood leaked into his mouth. King was lifted off of the floor and slammed into the brick wall. That's when King experienced real fear as he looked into the white eyes of a black cowl. His attacker wore a grey suit with black boots and gloves. Blades had been attacked to the gauntlets on the gloves and a yellow and black bat symbol glowed on the chest of the attacker. A long cloak flowed from the cowl, it would have covered the attacker, but for interrogating a man like King he needed his hands completely free.

"Batman," King snarled.

"You're broke King, you cant even afford a cheap motel room let alone an android as advanced as Ace, you and Atomic Skull coordinated your attacks so that Supergirl would only be able to respond to one, and you and your team had placed cameras around the bank, you could have gotten away if you'd worked fast why delay?" there would be no questions from Batman, just demands, and Bruce knew that King would answer him.

"What makes you think Atomic Skull and I were working together?" King asked.

"You timed your attacks at the perfect moments, Atomic Skull would take on Supergirl so that she wouldn't try to stop you monitoring Aeon's fighting style, you were monitoring him, on behalf of whoever provided you with the materials to rebuild Ace," Batman explained, almost predicting King's answers himself.

"You think you can threaten me?" King grit his teeth together, still afraid but somewhat defiant of the dark knight. "They have more power than you can imagine, they'll do things to me that'll make even you barf," he glared, only to meet Batman's fist.

Driven into unconsciousness by the blow, King awoke to pain yet again. He screamed, feeling his bones crunch against the sidewalk. A cable had been tied around his legs and the bat mobile was dragging him across the streets. Batman slid the car to a stop, right at the steps of the Gotham PD building. He jumped out of the car and landed in front of King, holding a more advanced version of an I-pad. Grabbing King by his head, Batman shoved it against the computer, showing him the formation of stars he had been watching for days.

"The anomaly that appeared in the sky, it was a window into another world, something came through that portal, even now something or someone may still be going back and forth between our world bringing otherworldly technology with them, providing it to you," he explained.

"I never asked where all the tech came from," King said.

"But you knew he was interested in Aeon didn't you?" Batman asked.

"Yes, god he was so interested, he told us to draw Aeon out, to fight him as long as we could and he'd have us freed if we were caught. He provided us a spare Ace and upgrades to Jack's eye, more advanced than we ever had them before and we still weren't enough," King explained.

"Exactly, which tells me that your employer wont be forgiving, you're actually scared of him aren't you King, he can hurt you in a way others cant. Which means you can either sit around and wait for your punishment or help me find your employer," Batman explained.

"Oh he'll do worse than put me through pain, he'll actually kill me, you have no idea just how powerful he is," if King wasn't afraid before, he had become afraid now.

"Where were you planning to meet?" Batman asked.

"Gotham harbour, warehouse 52, they can do things to you that you cant imagine, they'll do things to me you cant imagine…you go there Batman and you make sure you die, cause if you don't he'll be coming back for me," King explained.

Batman dropped the criminal, leaving him for Gordan's men to take away. He jumped into the bat mobile and began driving through the streets. Petty crimes would have to be left to the network, for tonight Bruce's priority was on Aeon and whatever was pursuing him. His link to the bat cave opened, enabling him to communicate with Alfred.

"King seemed particularly scared tonight, you haven't lost your touch it seems," the butler said.

"It was strange, King seemed to be showing a mixture of symptoms that I've seen before, from Scarecrow and Joker's gas, as well as the hypnotic effects of Poison ivy's pheromone dust," Bruce explained as he removed his gloves.

He switched the bat mobile to the auto-drive mode that Damian had upgraded it with. As the car drove across the city, Bruce did what he did best and analysed the evidence he had. During his interrogation he had managed to get traces of whatever King had been exposed to with his gloves. Using tweezers and a microscope built into the lenses of his cowl, Bruce analysed the particles he had picked up and found them to be a very subtle fusion of fear gas, Joker's blood and pheromone dust. King was supposed to be immortal, but a powerful enough hallucinogen could trick him into actually believing he could die. Joker's link to all of this was certain; Scarecrow and Ivy however were locked up in the new Arkham facility, both under heavy watch after recent break out attempts.

"King was definitely controlled through fear, whilst the rest of the gang were kept controlled through upgrades," Bruce explained.

"In terms of destructive power the other Flush Gang members outweigh King's value, but as an immortal he can't be intimidated," Alfred said.

"Yet someone did anyway, someone with the resources to get a hold of Poison Ivy's pheromone dust and Scarecrow's fear gas, Joker's blood easy to get a hold of because he's already part of the plan."

"Although, wouldn't it have been possible to simply go to another universe to retrieve these items, the technology to upgrade the gang was from another world after all."

Bruce put a hand to his chin, considering his old friend's words. He wiped the dust particles into a petri dish and injected it into a storage slot. Then he put on his gloves and gripped the controls for the bat mobile.

"And what makes you think Joker is still connected to all of this? His blood could have also been acquired from another reality," Alfred explained.

"Joker is involved, the fear inducing effects of the particles were specifically timed to effect King when he had been captured. Whoever hired him was counting on Aeon beating the gang, and on me frightening King enough to get the warehouse number from him, which means there's going to be a trap waiting for me," Batman ejected out of the bat mobile and fired a grappling hook onto a crane.

He had arrived at the harbour and looked at warehouse 52 from the crane. Armed men had formed a patrol pattern around the warehouse. They were all armed with AK-12's, assault rifle's passed over by the Russian Military in 2013, even though the president had banned the trade of Russian grade weapons, shadow markets still sold them and the soldiers were definitely a clandestine group. Each one wore Special Forces grade stealth suits; skintight suits that enabled maximum movement with limited Kevlar protection. They also carried themselves like ex-military, organised and never talking to one another, which also gave away their current employment. Most mercenaries were ex-military but that didn't give them any advantages over Bruce. His training had been a war zone in its self. He spread his cape as if they were wings and got to work.

* * *

Galaxor couldn't stop his hands from shaking. After facing mediocre villains he was finally going into the big leagues. The Joker's hostage crisis was what he needed to get on the same level as the Justice League. His team couldn't even be considered the league unless they stopped a massive threat. The Joker was that massive threat and Galaxor intended to put an end to that threat once and for all.

"Someone's eager," Godiva said, motioning to his knees.

"What can I say I'm always nervous the first time," he smiled.

"Really, I find that kind of cute."

"Lets keep the chatter to a minimum, we have a base to infiltrate, we cant risk the hostages so we need subtlety," Batwing explained.

"Da, I hack surveillance systems ya, mask approach," Red said.

"Galaxor is in charge of the operation, respect the chain of command you two," Uncle Sam said.

"But seeking advice from more experienced soldiers is not shameful," August said.

"Whatever team you're on the bat guy takes control," Hawkman muttered.

"Listen everyone, you all have good points and I'm thankful for the advice, our priority is stopping Joker and saving the hostages, which is why we'll split into two teams, Lantern Boy, Uncle Sam, August, Rocket Red and I will focus on the Joker, he said he had friends so it makes sense for our heavy hitters to focus on attack, the rest of you can focus on scouting out and rescuing the civilians," Galaxor explained.

"With all due respect…Galaxor," even August strained to pronounce the ridiculous name. "I believe Lantern Boy should go with the others, they should have at least one person capable of withstanding punishment," he explained.

"I can handle the Joker and whatever he's got," Lantern Boy said.

"I can also take a lot more punishment than you think General," Hawkman said.

"I'm worried that you would welcome the wounds, what with everything you have been through."

"What do you mean by that?" Carter asked.

"I mean no disrespect, but you should not be in a rush to meet your wife."

"How dare you…"

"You should not be in a rush to meet your wife when there are other lives at stake!"

Carter took a breath, only just realising that Godiva and Sam had been holding him back. His anger had gotten worse and a part of him agreed that August was right, that he was suicidal. He missed Shayera so much; the White Lantern Entity had taken her from him. Hawkman put on his helmet, using the lenses to mask the shine in his eyes. August was right, he was eager to see his wife again, damn the hostages. He knew he shouldn't think like that but he did. The death of a loved one could be devastating to some, but to Carter Hall there was no one but Shayera. He picked up his axe as he felt the aircraft land. The team exited their aircraft one by one, they had been placed on the rooftop of a building conveniently a few clicks away from the studio.

"All right team, lets get to work," Galaxor smiled as he flew with the other heavy hitters, his time was soon approaching.

"Where the hell could he have gone, someone's getting a bad evaluation," Lois muttered, shaking her head as she and Clark walked along.

"I'm sure he's just chasing another lead Lois, something tells me he can look after himself," Clark said.

"Remember the amount of times I would say that about myself?" Lois asked.

"Every time actually, I began losing count," Clark smiled, even as Lois frowned at him. "You didn't seem to mind those times though."

The couple walked into the Daily Planet and up into the main offices. Everyone was at work covering the hostage situation at the KHL studio. Clark took to his desk and began typing rapidly his coverage of the unity division. He of course omitted his own opinions of the team and focused on the facts, that they were a new team ready to do some good when the world needs them most. The man who was once Superman however paused and rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses. He knew the world needed him, but just when and how often was something he was still trying to figure out even into his middle ages. Clark saved his news document and walked to the bathroom. He removed his glasses and splashed some of the water across his face. That's when he felt it, a subtle sensation in his ears, like a ringing sound before he heard a voice.

"Superman, Superman, we wont be able to carry on a full conversation but I'm sure you recognise my voice."

"Metallo," Clark gasped.

"There's a good chance you're the only person left on Earth who can hear this, don't count on your clone or the two girls to hear it, trust me Superman you'll want to follow my voice very quickly," Metallo then began ranting, about things that weren't really worth noting.

Clark only had to follow the direction of his enemy's voice. He concentrated and began his search.

"KAL DON'T COME HERE!"

"Kara," Clark widened his eyes as he removed his jacket.

"IT'S A TRAP KAL!"

"BE CAREFUL!"

"Karen, Conner," Clark grit his teeth together.

He flew across the sky, moving at a rate too fast for any human to see. His glasses were safely in his pocket; he hadn't worn his costume in months. The rescue of Supergirl, Superboy and Power girl required an immediate response.

* * *

Batman finished cuffing the last of the hired thugs. They had fallen perhaps too easily. He kept his detective vision on, it wasn't quite like Clark's X-ray vision but it was close enough. Inside the building Batman could see the highlighted signs of explosives, all connected to a machine of some kind, a machine that had a person strapped to it. He entered the building through one of the windows, deactivating his detective vision to analyse the warehouse properly. Multiple wires had connected a sound system to a series of screens on the wall. The screens themselves were black, they weren't the monitors for surveillance cameras. He then looked towards the explosives tucked around the hostage. Batman drew closer towards the hostage, he had been stripped to his waist and had a bag covering his head. Bruce looked at the man's chest, a monitor of some kind had been connected to him. Then he looked at the bombs, no timers anywhere just some dynamite, connected to chemicals and judging from the clowns and purple colours it had been made by Joker. Joker had made a dirty bomb and connected them to some poor man's heart. Batman pulled away the bag and widened his eyes. It was a sentiment shared by Alfred as he looked through the camera on Bruce's cowl. Connected to the machine was someone they never thought they would see again.

"Jason," Bruce said.

His former protégé didn't have the red hair and beard he remembered when they last met. Jason had lied about the hair dye business, he had actually dyed his hair red to further distance himself from the family.

"Bruce, you have to kill me," Jason muttered.

"He may have a point, Brucie boy!"

Bruce narrowed his eyes in fury, he didn't need a good memory to remember the voice echoing through the speakers. One by one the screens activated, forming a perfect picture of the Joker.

"Don't look at the kid Brucie, I've known for quite a while and to be honest I never really cared, our game was something that would have lasted forever, if I hadn't learnt about the Multiverse, I've got a good deal set up, kill a lot of people and I can get as many Batman's to kill as I want. But don't feel bad, I organised one last special party for the two of us, something to really push you to your limits, both physically and psychologically," Joker chuckled.

He removed a remote from his jacket and pushed the centre button. A timer suddenly appeared on the left corner monitor.

"Interesting machine isn't it Brucie, it's a design I actually took from another version of you, or was he a version of your father or the brother you never had…I don't know, anyway the whole aim of the game isn't to disarm the bombs because they are quite disarm proof, you have to stop the kid's heart from beating you see, five minutes Bruce, five minutes to either kill Jason again or to run like hell before the bombs go off and poison Gotham, the chemicals could be contained after all it isn't like Gotham doesn't stink already, and its not like he was the Robin you actually liked," Joker laughed. "Oh and I know this isn't likely but don't overcome that stubborn pride of yours and call your other super friends, you wouldn't want to take them away from their loved ones," Joker's laugh played in a continuous loop as the screens showed the timer.

"ALFRED! CALL THE OTHERS NOW! Clark, Barry, Hal, everyone, tell them their loved ones are in danger," Bruce explained, speaking quickly and to the point.

"Yes master Bruce, I'll call Lucius and see if he can get those robots to evacuate the area," Alfred said.

He had learned long ago not to doubt Bruce's instincts. One often had to analyse the things Joker said, his recommendation to Bruce was not simply a taunt, but a warning too, the League was in danger.

* * *

Aeon flew closer and closer to the TV studio. His instincts told him that the League was in danger. From a very young age Sieg had learnt to trust his instincts. His final days in his world had been when he had been at his most sceptical, and he hadn't completely erased that scepticism despite what he drew his power from. The new League was inexperienced and full of people ill-suited for a team, as if they had been bought together to fail. He looked towards the windows of the studio and narrowed his eyes, seeing the signs of energy blasts being fired. There was perhaps a good reason for him to have stuck his nose in the League's business.

WHAM!

Sieg widened his eyes as Galaxor burst through one of the walls. He flew through a billboard and a water tower before hitting the edge of a ledge. Aeon swooped downwards and caught the armoured hero, though his armour was beginning to fall off of his suit like it was a broken cosplay. He looked at Galaxor and widened his eyes, the poor man's jaw was hanging out of place, his skin was still attached but the bone of his skull had shattered. A single punch had obliterated his brain.

"He didn't even last six seconds," Sieg heard a voice speak behind him.

He turned and widened his eyes even further. He had no illusions about his opponent's power levels, they were beyond any he had faced on his Earth. The boy, that is what could best be used to describe him wore a blue suit with blue and red armour, the gauntlets and boots were connected to his chest plate with a series of wires. He had black hair and a grinning, overconfident face, but even his overconfidence didn't take away from the fact that he had terrifying power. The shield on his chest was supposed to be a symbol of hope, Sieg only saw it as a symbol of fear.

"So, what can you do?" Superboy-Prime grinned as his eyes glowed red.

Next Chapter 3: Attack

* * *

He always escapes, next time Aeon faces off against Superboy-Prime and the the rest of the unity league struggle to survive against a mass of familiar but very different villains. Meanwhile Batman, Superman and other veteran members of the league must fight to survive as their loved ones are put under threat. The heroes always find a way, but sometimes their victories come with a price.

Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next one will be longer I promise.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

* * *

Brave New World

Chapter 3: Attack

Aeon looked at Superboy-Prime and felt true horror. A lot of the tabloids made the boy out to be some kind of joke, he kind of was but at the same time he was also a very real threat. Superboy-Prime had cut through dozens of heroes during the Infinite Crisis, he was the worst thing people could imagine, a whiney kid with Superman's powers. He had none of the restraint or the experience, which made him a specific kind of danger. Looking down at Galaxor, Aeon began to recognise just how much strength Superboy-Prime had. The poor man had probably been told by whoever gave him his powers that he was strong, true he would have been able to handle a run of the mill villain, but Superboy-Prime, despite being not being a great manipulator or mastermind was in fact the most dangerous sort of villain.

"So, what can you do?" Superboy-Prime asked, looking down on Aeon as if his superiority was already assured.

He ignored him and crossed Galaxor's arms over his chest. The man had been eager to be a hero, but his efforts were ultimately in vain. Aeon looked towards the building Galaxor had come from. The enhanced vision his helmet offered him gave him a clear view of what was happening inside. Uncle Sam was crashing through the walls of the building, threatening to bring it down. His opponent was someone who probably would have shocked the old man considering he was dead. Baron Blitzkrieg had come back as a Black Lantern after the last crisis with Darkseid, but was alive and well facing the American themed hero, and winning. Sam's hat had been knocked off and his mouth was bleeding, but the old man was still trading blows with the Nazi. Godiva was doing much worse however; her opponents had a significantly greater number advantage and clear skill advantage. Much to Aeon's shock they all had similar costume motives and generally looked identical. Godiva yelled in pain as one slammed a mallet into her left knee, breaking the bone. She latched out with her hair, grabbing one, only for another to cut her chest with a knife.

"Now, now ladies, no need to spoil a good piece," Joker said as he walked into the fight.

"Yes Mistah J!" the seven ladies said.

They were all Harley Quinn's, any variant of the uniform you could think of and you'd see them wearing it. It was as if they had been plucked from different realities. That's when it occurred to Aeon, when he saw Hawkman dodging shots from of all people Green Arrow, but with a red hood on, when he saw Batwing being chased by a vampire Batman, Rocket Red avoiding the gunfire of a man in similar armour to his though American themed and August dodging blasts from Deathstorm, but not the Deathstorm that had come out of the power battery. All of the villains Superboy-Prime gathered were like him, plucked from an alternate Earth.

'There's no beating Superboy-Prime, but maybe I can outlast him,' Aeon thought.

He swung his arm around, releasing a flash from his sword. Superboy-Prime put his hands to his eyes, even his senses were damaged by the ferocity of the light. Aeon immediately flew as fast as he could across the city, crashing through the studio.

"_**Don't worry, I'm going to get you all out of here," **_Aeon said to the civilians.

He created platforms and barriers and began levitating them out of the building. At the same time he flew on the outside of the building and fired blasts from his sword. He cut Red Archer's bow apart, giving Hawkman an opening to slash him across the shoulder. Another energy blade hit Deathstorm in the back, giving August time to help Rocket. The man fired a blast from his staff, knocking the American themed rocket back.

"On second thought Harley's I think she could do with some improvements," Joker grinned as he grabbed Godiva by her hair. "I got this line from another version of myself, now there was a genius," he said, removing a knife from his coat.

Aeon stopped and looked towards Godiva. Joker put the blade to her mouth, with his seven Harley's watching in admiration.

"Lets put a smile on that face," he said.

"_**NO!"**_

Aeon flew as fast as he could towards Joker. Suddenly, Superboy-Prime slammed into Aeon, generating a shockwave that threw Joker, his Harley's and Godiva into the wall. Batwing flew underneath a rafter and drew the vampire Batman outside. He reached into his utility belt and took out a torch. It wasn't just any torch however, the vampire Batman opened his mouth to bite at Batwing's neck. The blue, ultra violet light shined in the vampire's eyes, causing them to bubble and burst. Batwing then slammed his fist into the creature's face, shattering his teeth and sending it falling to the ground.

"I just beat Batman…nah probably shouldn't gloat, maybe later," Batwing grinned.

He flew down towards August and Rocket, both were recovering. Rubble however separated them from their teammates. Uncle Sam stood with blood on his fists, standing strong as enemies surrounded him. Baron Blitzkrieg was one of them, along with the American Rocket, a version of Cyborg known as Grid, a black version of Red Tornado and a Killer Frost with a Mohawk.

"SAM! IF THERE'S AN ESCAPE OPENING TAKE IT!" Batwing yelled into the rubble.

"No escape this time boys, you'd all best regroup," Sam said.

He huffed and puffed, his knees begged him to collapse but he still stood. Grid fired a sonic blast, bursting Sam's eardrums. Alls he heard was ringing and muffled taunts from his enemies. But the pain was still there. He took a punch from the Baron, then an electric blast from the robot known as Black Storm. The American Rocket then pelted him with bullets and flames, burning away his clothes. But still Uncle Sam fought on, mustering his strength to punch the Baron through the wall.

"Nice fight old man," Frost said as she walked around the patriotic hero.

Uncle Sam began to regain his hearing but he had no interest in listening to what Frost had to say. He rushed towards the psychopath and let out a great yell.

* * *

People expected him to let out a great yell, to hurl a trident through the chef's chest. Some people of Boston wondered why the staff of the Oystercatcher restaurant had suddenly gotten so nervous. True the blonde haired, green-eyed man had a strong build, particularly shown off by his grey muscle shirt but he seemed rather mild mannered. He took a seat by the window, a beach side view and rested his orange jacket on the chair. Anyone who had surfed the net or witnessed the recent 'Atlantis war' knew who the man was even without his signature costume. The new customer Arthur Curry, the owner of the lighthouse at Amnesty Bay also had another name, Justice League founder Aquaman.

"Aquaman just walked in here," one of the cooks muttered.

"I know, god I feel so guilty!"

"What are we supposed to do?" the waitress asked.

"Go and ask him what he wants," the chef said.

The waitress nervously approached Arthur's table as he read the menu.

"Um hello," she said, gripping her notepad tightly.

"Hello," he said.

He had a friendly smile, which put the lady at ease slightly.

"What would you like sir?" she asked.

"My names Arthur, I'm actually a local my father used to bring me here," he explained.

"Really, you come here often?" she looked at him with a surprised expression.

"When I was a kid yeah, do they still get the fish locally and batter it themselves?" he asked.

"Oh they do, a lot of people online are saying they get it pre made but they're wrong, was it the fish and chips you wanted?"

"Yes please," Arthur smiled.

"Wait a minute, you can't order that!"

Arthur turned to the man on the table behind his. He was an obese man munching on fried squid. His partner seemed to be the opposite, eating salmon with steamed vegetables.

"And why exactly cant I order that?" he asked.

"Because its fish," the thin one said.

"That's right, everybody knows Aquaman talks to fish," the fat one followed.

"I don't talk to fish," Arthur growled, a little more fiercely than he meant to.

Ever since he was first on the scene people underestimated his power levels. It got worse when films and TV shows started misinterpreting his powers. They always made him out to be some kind of activist who could have a conversation with fish.

"Firstly, no one can talk to fish they're not intelligent enough to have a conversation and secondly I am not talking to them, that isn't how my powers work," he explained.

"How do they work then?"

"I telepathically influence them into helping me out, sharks, jellyfish, haddock, piranhas it all applies, despite how Saturday Night live or Robot Chicken portrays it I assure you my powers have nothing to do with asking a fish nicely," Arthur sighed as the men came and sat at his table.

"What about Dolphins?" the fat one asked.

"Yeah Dolphins are scientifically proven to be smarter than anything else in the ocean."

"They're also scientifically proven to be mammals," Arthur said.

"I'll get your order Arthur," the waitress said.

"Thank you, and please hurry," Arthur muttered.

He spent most of his meal telling people about his adventures and clarifying some assumptions people made about his abilities.

'Bruce would have told you to 'let them assume, ignorance gives you an advantage,' Hal and Barry would probably encourage the jokes,' Arthur sighed as he walked home.

He returned to Amnesty Bay to get away from the life of a super hero. Atlantis could find its own ruler; he just wanted to live in peace with Mera and their unborn child. A month into their move Mera was late and took a pregnancy test. She wasn't beginning to show yet but had already eagerly come up with a name for a girl (she was determined to believe it would be a girl). Marina, that would be the name of Arthur's future daughter. He stood at the edge of the cliff face, overlooking the water. Aquagirl and Aqua Lad had been staying over the past few days, helping them settle into the old house. Looking at the pair swim in the water together it was clear they had feelings for one another. Over the past few months of training, Jackson, or Kaldur as he also went by had shaved his hair, getting rid of his old dreadlocks in favour of a haircut that didn't obscure his vision. His ability to generate bio-electricity and his skill with his water bearers had improved to the point where the Titans began considering him for a leadership position. Arthur stood over the two teen heroes, seeing them as the future.

"Is something wrong my love?"

Arthur smiled as Mera wrapped her arms around him. She was wearing a green bathrobe, her crown and other Atlantean armour abandoned in a chest.

"No Mera, everything's fine, everything's just fine," he said.

He turned and kissed his wife. Things truly were good for them.

* * *

Clark let out a great yell as he penetrated the walls of the fortress. Upon landing in the great hall however he was faced with his robotic duplicates. It felt strange seeing his old costume on the robots, but that didn't stop him from smashing his way through them. He was out of practice but his muscle memory was good and the robots weren't programmed with the training Bruce had given Clark. For whilst Clark was ultimately more powerful than the machines and smarter, his skill was what enabled him to beat them. He flipped one to the floor, smashed open its chest and kicked another back.

'Been a while since I've thought about you all,' Clark remembered his teammates.

During periods when he had lost his powers, Bruce taught him some of the simplest yet most affective methods of self-defence and even taught him how to engage multiple opponents. The principle still applied to people with super strength. He elbowed a robot behind him and grabbed another one in a chokehold, using his free hand to block attacks from the others. Red energy beams hit his robot shield and burnt his back. His skin was already in the process of healing as he fired back, heat vision blaring from his eyes. Hal taught him a bit about marksmanship; whilst the robots fired blindly Clark decapitated each of his enemies. He split one robot in half, sending both pieces crashing into the robots trying to sneak up on him.

'Fortress security is compromised,' Clark didn't need to check a console to see that a virus had infected the fortress's computer systems.

His vision was good, so good that he could see even data. Metallo had mastered hacking, something he didn't often use in the past. Clark scanned the walls of the fortress and saw what he was looking for, or rather who. His protégés were in the main hall; surrounded by relics from Krypton but trapped by tech that wasn't of any world Clark had ever seen before. Though it had clearly been modified to generate red sun radiation, only Kryptonite from Earth 2 could injure Power girl and no matter how well funded Metallo was he couldn't get Kryptonite from another reality. He continued looking into the other room, planning the escape of his family, analysing the weaknesses on the machine. Then he saw it, a blur, everything else was clear except for something moving towards the wall. His sight couldn't see it, but he could hear the weapon charging. He flew upwards, dodging a green beam of Kryptonite energy.

"Well played Superman, or perhaps the name Kal-El is more appropriate now, or would you prefer Clark Kent?" a metallic voice asked.

Clark looked towards the hole in the wall and saw his enemy. Metallo had coated his chassis in lead, a material Clark couldn't see through. The metallic man would have towered over Clark if he wasn't flying. His head resembled a skull and a green light emanated from his mouth and eyes. He walked forward, flexing his arms as if urging Clark to come at him. But Clark kept on analysing the state of the younger Kryptonians, they were his priority.

"They're not dead yet Clark, this was the best way of getting your attention," Metallo said. "Short of going after your pal, or Ma and your wife," he shrugged as Clark hovered to the ground.

The Kryptonian kept his distance, looking at Metallo's Kryptonite heart for only a few seconds before focusing on the captives again. He saw the designs, very simple really. They were stasis chambers of some kind, pods quite simple with glass separating the people inside from the outside world. Conner, Kara and Karen were each nestled into their respective pods, which were connected to a grander machine. It was made of a type of chrome and held each pod up with mechanical arms, each arm had clear tubes connecting the pods to multiple tanks.

"Why didn't you go after them?" Clark asked, looking to buy time as he planned a rescue.

"Because they're human," Metallo huffed, crossing his arms together. "I have no quarrel with them, its always been about you Clark, you and your clones and your cousins I hate you all GOD I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" he suddenly yelled.

Clark was taken aback by the fury in Metallo's voice. The cyborg however persisted, his glowing green eyes narrowed at his enemy.

"But this hatred is so much more justified than Luthor's," he said.

"Its funny you bring him up," Power Girl said.

"SHUT UP!" Metallo yelled.

Electricity suddenly coursed through Karen's veins, causing her to yell in agony.

"Speak again and I will ruin you so badly you'll be wearing a full body suit. Back to you Clark, no I've changed my mind you're Kal-El, not human, not even a man. You came here to this planet, which was fine before you got here, you came here and with your arrival came death, you opened Earth up to all the threats that came in from space and doomed our world to an eternity of crisis, they all came for you Kal-El," Metallo explained.

To any ignorant man, Metallo's words would have seemed reasonable. But Clark had been at the heart of every crisis and discovered the dark motivations behind every mastermind. The truth was that Earth was far more important than people realised. It had been the very source of all life in the universe and that was why it attracted so many dark forces, Darkseid, Nekron and the Anti-Monitor had no interest in age long vendettas against Krypton or land and power. Those whom fought them could only understand their motivations and reasons.

"What gave you the right to pick up that cape? What gave you the right to get involved? TO PLAY GOD WITH OUR FATES!"

"The right to save lives," Kara said.

"You and she are counterparts right?" Metallo asked, turning to Kara with a glare. "Power Girl and you are basically the same people, though one of you has modesty it seems, if you interrupt me again I WILL RUIN YOU LIKE HER!" Metallo yelled.

He swung arm, hitting Clark just as he tried to make a move for the machine. The force of the blow threw Clark back, slamming him against a wall. Metallo gave all three captives electrical shocks. Clark then heard it, a hissing sound, indicating that some kind of mechanism on the machine had been started. He then saw with his molecular vision toxic chemicals flowing through the tubes and towards the pods. He rushed forward again, flying over Metallo and straight towards the captives. Though Clark didn't move as fast as the Flash, he moved fast enough to tear each pod from the machine. If Metallo was shocked his face didn't show it.

"Kara, are you okay?" Clark asked as he ripped open Supergirl's pod.

"He's more powerful than ever Clark," Kara said.

"Indeed, cause I've got friends in places you won't believe," Metallo said.

Clark ripped open Conner's pod, and then Power Girl's. Metallo aimed the palm of his hand at Clark, shaping it into a cannon.

"Stay behind me Clark," Power Girl said, knowing the Kryptonite wouldn't affect her.

"Like I said Kal-El," Metallo grinned.

He fired the energy blast, hitting Power Girl in the chest, as if it was a bullseye. What happened next shocked the Kryptonians to tears. Karen Starr, Power Girl and survivor of Earth 2 let out a cry of agony.

* * *

Sweat was pouring down Jason's face, Bruce however seemed perfectly calm. He knew of a way to shut down the bomb, the trigger was Jason's heartbeat. If Jason's heart stopped beating then the bomb would shut down and his shackles would be released. Jason looked down at his mentor and knew that he had a plan, he was just struggling with whether or not to use it. He saw the tablet in the palm of Bruce's hand, a drug that would relax the heart muscles. Combine that with a shot of adrenaline and you had a way to clinical kill and revive someone. That would fool the sensors, but when dealing with the Joker nothing was as it seemed. The gears of the detective's mind turned, he relived every encounter with the Joker and thought and thought of every possibility one could face when against him.

"Master Bruce I've tried to get a hold of Master Kent but he's not responding," Alfred said.

"His loved ones are already in danger, call Aquaman, Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and the Flash," Batman explained, he dared not use the real names of his team mates, he trusted Alfred to know exactly who he meant.

"I would ask which Flash but it would make sense to warn everyone," Alfred muttered. "What about Wonder Woman?"

"She hasn't been seen since months ago."

"Since she went through that leather jacket phase you mean?"

"No time for jokes or sass, warn Black Canary, Red Arrow and Donna Troy and send a message to the Titans, we cant throw aside the chance that individual heroes and teams are the targets and that their loved ones are decoys or vice versa, everyone involved with heroes is in danger, send a message to Oracle for the Commissioner to get an escort," the dark knight began scanning the environment with his detective vision.

'Tanks filled with Joker toxin modified with titan formula on the inside and outside of the building, all connected through electrical wires to the timer on Jason's shackles, one timer, two types of trigger, trigger one is sabotaging the tanks, the sensors will detect the interference and trigger the bomb thus releasing the toxins, northern wind will blow the toxins into the city. Trigger two is Jason's heartbeat linked to the timer, once the timer stops the bomb will explode, in theory, Joker lies, he lies a lot, he knows I wont kill but he also knows I wont let the bomb go off, he knows I wont give up Jason. Two possible solutions, let the timer run to zero or give Jason the heart drugs and adrenaline, five minutes remaining.'

He opened the casing over the time and began to analyse the wiring. That was when he spotted it, a flash drive hidden within the wiring. Putting it into his belt he decided to put a pin in finding out what was inside and removed his shock gauntlets.

"This is going to hurt," he said.

"Not like I haven't had it done to me before, go ahead," Jason nodded his head as Bruce raised his hand.

He slammed his fist into Jason's chest, releasing an electrical spark that jumped his heart and overloaded the murder machine. The electrical pulse fried all of the triggers and the timer. Batman then released Jason's locks and yanked him away from the machine. The pair looked up, waiting for an explosion that never came.

"Record time, you always find a way don't you?" Jason asked.

"Joker had every intention of the bomb going off if I chose the complex solution, he wasn't counting on the simple one, overloading all of the electrical equipment," Batman explained.

"Simple EMP, but you know this isn't the end right?"

Batman nodded his head and put a hand to his ear.

"Master Bruce I've managed to get in contact with Master Allen, he's facing trouble of his own, Batman Inc forces have already begun the process of cutting off access to the docks so that bomb disposal experts can get in, I still cant get a hold of Master Kent or Master Queen, I've sent messages to the other young ones, I'll patch them through," Alfred explained.

Across the city, the other protégés of Batman were watching over the evacuation efforts. Dick Grayson stood in his Nightwing attire, which had evolved to include more armour on the chest and joints. He gripped his escrima sticks tightly, watching the Batman Inc drones clear people out of buildings. A zip line suddenly latched onto the nearby chimney, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne slid down the line and landed behind Dick.

"Batman I've got Red Robin and Robin here, we need an update on the bombs status," Nightwing said.

"Oracle here, Batman I'll link up with your detective vision, get me a good look at the bomb," Barbara Gordon sat in her lair, seeing what Bruce could see through a link on her laptop.

Batman walked over to the bomb and simply looked at it. Oracle would figure out how to disarm it, whilst he helped Flash.

"Flash, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Itswallythere'sasituationwithbarryhegothitbythesamebulletIdid!"

"Slow down Wally, I understand Barry's been hit by the same vibration bullet Ra's had gotten you with, Barry's strong enough to ride it out but the city isn't, get people away from him," Bruce explained.

"Got it Batman, Jay and I are on it," Wally West looked at his mentor Barry Allen.

Someone had shot Barry when he was at a crime scene. To the rest of Central City they were experiencing an Earthquake. Wally West, Jay Garrick, Iris West and Bart Allen were the first responders, sweeping across the city to protect people from falling debris or get people away from the area of effect. Iris Allen watched news updates, caressing her belly as she thought of her husband and the news she hadn't yet given him.

"Wally, someone needs to be with Iris and Linda, the city and Barry aren't the ones in real danger," Batman said.

The Dark Knight grit his teeth together in frustration. Already he was getting another ping from a former teammate. In Coast City Hal Jordan stood in his apartment, looking at news reports over what was happening in New York.

"Bruce, I know I don't really deserve to use the old channel but I needed to find out what you and the others are doing about this thing in New York?" Hal asked.

"We have our hands full, what about that other Justice League team?" Bruce asked.

"They're failing, badly, I've tried calling Kyle, Guy and John but I can't get a hold of them and it wasn't that long since we saw one another. Which means they're all off world, summoned by the Guardians, and if its all three of them then something big must be going down if they've been forced to abandon their sectors," Hal explained.

"And I thought you were the paranoid one," Alfred muttered.

"I agree with Hal, this is all too synchronised to be coincidence," Batman tore open the bomb casing and began ripping the wires apart, removing the Joker gas canister.

Alfred widened his eyes slightly, noticing a ping on Bruce's motion sensor. Like a radar it would pick up the signature of possible threats, judging them by size. Whatever was approaching Bruce was big. The Dark Knight was already on guard, hearing heavy footsteps outside of the warehouse. His suspicion paid off, giving him a little extra time to react as the wall came down. Jason automatically rolled out of the path of the falling wall and looked towards the new arrival.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said.

Standing before the Dark Knight and the former boy wonder were four bulking men, their muscles expanded to super human proportions, their skin was deathly pale and they all had grins plastered across their faces. Each man wore a collar of some kind with speakers built into it.

"You didn't think it would be that easy did you Brucie, I know you solved my little intellectual problem, how's about we present the physical test, boys KILL THE KID!" Joker yelled over the speakers.

Jason raised his hands defensively as the enhanced brutes ran towards him. Batman threw smoke bombs at Jason's feet and threw him over his shoulder. He fired a grappling hook into the ceiling, only for one of the brutes to grab him by his leg.

"OOOH! Faster than they look aren't they old friend? But don't worry, they aren't that big on brains, not that they'll need them," Joker explained, laughing as he watched the brutes face the dark knight.

The clown prince held a laptop with a video feed of what was going on at Gotham harbour. He let out a chuckle, skipping across the ruined studio. Aeon crawled across the ground, looking towards where Godiva had landed. He widened his eyes, seeing that she was gone. Superboy-Prime walked out of the smoke, dragging Hawkman by his leg. Carter yelled as the overpowered teen crushed his right heel. Aeon stood up and raised his sword. Suddenly, Sam crashed through the wall, hitting Aeon in the back. The American themed hero had burn marks and bruises across his body, but still he stood up, even as Deathstorm hit him with a blast of energy.

"It's clear the heroes currently assembled can't match us," the creature said.

"We won't give up," Sam snarled.

"Such drivel," Deathstorm said.

Sam's skin suddenly began to change. His once unbreakable skin darkened and began to crumble, having changed into brittle charcoal. The American hero stumbled backwards, his look of determination remaining even as the charcoal spread up his neck.

"We won't give up," he repeated his previous words, his last words as a strong wind obliterated his body.

_**"NO!" **_Aeon yelled.

He stood up again and raised his sword high.

_**"YOU!"**_

The young hero rushed towards Deathstorm, only for the nuclear powered monster to hit him with an energy blast. The energy wrapped around Aeon's armour, causing him to yell as if it was touching his skin. Deathstorm flew over Aeon, analysing him like a scientist.

"Interesting, this one possesses a special gene, he seems to have been born with his powers," Deathstorm mused.

Aeon created a crystal shard behind Deathstorm. But the shard shattered as Deathstorm dug deeper into Aeon's genome.

"Interesting, even though it is part of his genome, even though he was born with this X-gene it is in no way natural."

_**"W-What are you saying?"**_ Aeon asked.

"Strange, did you actually think nothing had to happen for you to have these abilities, that it is what? Part of some evolution, what nonsense, how in the world are comic book super powers evolution? You must not have any scientists in your world," Deathstorm laughed, an unpleasant sound coming from his maw.

Aeon yelled in agony again as his armour began to crack.

"Superboy-Prime may be able to shatter the planet, but I have the power of creation itself, I can give and take away," Deathstorm said.

Suddenly Sieg's armour shattered and he looked at the pieces in confusion. He tried to create more armour, but he couldn't.

"No more mutants," Deathstorm laughed.

"Now you can't do anything, now you aren't even a hero at all," Superboy-Prime said as he walked towards Sieg.

"You're wrong," Carter snarled.

Superboy-Prime turned to the league member. Carter Hall grinned at the look of anger on Prime's face.

"Sam had the right idea, you idiots aren't going to win," he said.

"HA! If you heroes are going to be victorious then where are you?" Joker asked.

He closed his laptop, confident that his enhanced thugs could handle Batman. The clown prince truly wanted to hear whatever Hawkman had to say. Superboy-Prime placed his foot on Carter's wrist, his threat was clear but it didn't frighten him.

"We may fail at first, and some of us might bleed along the way, but in the end we'll always come through victorious because we're fighting for something better than what you fight for, something so worthless."

"What do we fight for that is so worthless?" Prime asked.

"Your own life," Carter countered.

"My life? I am going to become Superman some day, when that happens I will be the greatest hero on Earth."

"That's why, you want to be a hero for yourself, not others, if all you fight for is yourself then your life is meaningless," Carter snarled.

Superboy-Prime grabbed Carter by his head and snarled. His eyes began to glow red as he lifted Carter off of the ground.

"Meaningless, that's rich coming from you, what do they even call you? Who the hells going to remember you?" Prime asked.

"Those who do will probably be more fond of me then you, do you know what the Society and the League always said about you after the crisis? 'God that Superboy-Prime kid was so whiney, what a little bitch'," Carter began to laugh, even as Prime traced his heat vision along his skull.

Carter's look of satisfied defiance remained, even with his lobotomy. Superboy-Prime threw the brain dead leaguer aside, fury locked across his face.

"Stupid, pissing me off, what about you huh? Ready to bow down powerless little thing?" Prime asked as he approached Sieg.

Sieg looked up at Superboy-Prime, sharing the same fury as the mockery of this Earth's greatest hero.

"We won't stop, we'll keep fighting onwards until the end," Sieg said.

"Then you'll die, just like others will die," Superboy-Prime said.

His eyes glowed red as he prepared to lobotomise Sieg as well. Suddenly blue markings began to glow across Sieg's body. Sieg's look of defiance faded as he gasped in horror. Superboy-Prime backed away slightly as the scenery shifted around him. He was inside the fortress of solitude, looking at Superboy and Kara. The murderous boy looked at the two Kryptonians and at the person whose body they were crying over. Kara seemed particularly hurt, clutching her heart as if the death had hurt her physically and not just emotionally. Conner put a hand to his eyes and let out a hysterical yell.

"Kara," Superboy-Prime looked at Power Girl, at her still heart and realised that the resident of Earth 2 was dead. "Wait a minute, where's the other..."

Superboy-Prime never got to finish his sentence as he was suddenly bought back to reality. A fist slammed into his face with a velocity he had never felt before. The very force of the blow generated a shockwave that threw all of the people around them back, and sent Superboy-Prime himself flying backwards. Sieg however remained firmly fixed to the ground, his spiritual energy acting as a shield. He looked up and looked into the solemn, blood shot eyes of the world's greatest hero.

"It was you, Superman," Sieg whispered.

Clark narrowed his eyes slightly as he picked Sieg up by the collar of his shirt.

"Kara, my cousin, she's in agony as if she's lost a part of herself, because she has. Tell me everything you know about what's going on, tell me why Metallo suddenly knows who I am, tell me how he's gotten a hold of Kryptonite from other worlds, tell me why Power Girl is dead?"

Next Chapter 4: Loss

* * *

The First casualties pile up, one death hitting the Superman family more than anyone else. Next time the attacks against the League and their family members continue, as Sieg recounts his story to Clark.

Sieg has lost his mutant X-gene, ripped out of him by Deathstorm like a piece of clothing. Could Deathstorm's statement be true? What is the X-gene if not evolution, Virgil's story in Sins of Days past will reveal all.

Happy New year everyone


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

Sorry for the wait guys, luckily, Arkham Knight has inspired me in this chapter :)

* * *

Brave New World

Chapter 4: Loss

Clark Kent, AKA Kal-El, AKA Superman had just lost his cousin again. He lost her during the Crisis against the Anti-Monitor, he nearly lost her to Darkseid, to her own vengeful mother and now he had lost her well and truly. It was strange, Powergirl was Supergirl, both were Kara's, Clark's cousin. The strangeness of their relationship didn't change the impact Power girl's death had on Clark. He yelled, clapping his hands together and releasing a shockwave that knocked Joker and his cronies back. For all the rage Clark had, he was not willing to kill his enemies. Though he didn't wear the costume or the symbol he still lived by the ideals of mercy, peace and heroism. So he grabbed Carter's body, the intern and allowed Godiva to latch onto his waist with her hair and began flying away from the studio. He listened, hearing an object flying faster than a bullet train and the scream of a teenager. Clark threw his charges up into the air and turned to face Superboy-Prime. The two Kryptonians, gods to humans clashed, yet it was the elder whom had the experience and the fighting skills taught by his two best friends. Clark blocked his counterpart's punch and countered with a palm to the boy's nose. He grabbed Superboy-Prime's arm and threw him over his shoulder. Superboy-Prime's cloak covered his face as he rolled in midair, slamming into the streets below.

"Oooh, somebody's pissed," Joker said, looking at the boy and his furious expression with his binoculars.

While the thought of two god like beings fighting in one of the biggest cities in the world would have scared most people, Joker found the idea intoxicatingly entertaining. He looked at his watch with a look of surprise, realising he had a window to keep. The Harley Quinn counterparts crowded around him as he began to glow a pitch black colour.

"I'd hate to leave girls, and henchmen," Joker added, looking over their shoulders. "But I'm afraid I have an appointment to keep, the boss man will want to see me," he laughed as he disappeared and left his alternate dimension allies to their fun.

After catching his allies, Clark swooped through the streets, dodging energy blasts fired by Deathstorm. Clark gathered air into his lungs and blew hard, throwing Deathstorm back, even putting out the flames on his head. The un dead creature slammed into the studio. Clark continued flying, increasing his speed as his younger counterpart continued the pursuit.

"I WONT LET YOU GET AWAY!" Superboy-Prime screamed.

Again Clark threw the people he was protecting up. Then he pulled his fist back, gathering all of his anger and frustration with his spoilt counterpart. Superboy-Prime had never been hit so hard in his life, not even the punches he took from his counterpart during the Infinite crisis compared. He was sent flying back, straight into the water, and he kept going deeper and deeper until he reached the deepest part of the ocean. Clark turned away and continued flying back to one of the only safe places he knew about.

"Alfred," he appeared almost instantly in front of the Batman's mentor and friend.

Pennyworth looked shocked by Clark's sudden appearance, as well as the condition of his charges.

"Master Kent," Alfred said as Clark suddenly fell onto his knees.

Sieg supported the man and looked at him with as much shock as the other heroes did.

"Joker, he's in New York, the city," Clark's voice was weak and his throat sounded hoarse. "I don't know how he's done it but, there's Kryptonite buried underneath it, stockpiles of it, his new ally Deathstorm must have..." he fell onto Sieg's shoulder.

"Hey take it easy you need to rest," the boy said.

"No there's something else, something much worse, buried underneath the Kryptonite," the man of steel fell over Sieg and into unconsciousness.

Sieg found the man heavy, but he had lifted heavy weights before. He didn't even wait for Alfred's permission to carry him to a nearby surgical table. Then he checked Clark's pulse and stepped away in relief. The man was still alive, weak but alive and capable of recovering. Both Sieg and Alfred knew that they would need him. Sieg's eyes scanned the bat cave, taking in every glorious detail, every memorial case for the friends lost to the dark knight's war on crime, every trophy taken from a crime scene, every disarmed weapon taken from a villain. He realised without shadow of doubt, before seeing the symbols on the costumes that he was standing in the cave of the dark knight. The young man widened his eyes as he heard the cock of a gun behind him.

"You helped Master Kent, and I can see you're a good boy, but I think its best you stay here and explain what you know to Kent and Batman," the butler explained.

"Batman won't be coming back anytime soon Alfred," Clark said as he stumbled off of the gurney.

"Hey, stop, you're in no condition to be going anywhere," Sieg said.

"He's right Mr Kent, you clearly haven't recovered from your experience with the Joker and Superboy-Prime," Alfred walked up to Clark and gently pushed him back on the table.

"I don't understand I should have reco..." the Kryptonian suddenly began to cough, his hands shaking as he fell again.

Alfred flashed a light in front of Clark's eye and checked his skin. The man was almost deathly pale and the veins on his neck had a subtle green glow.

"You were infected with something during the fight," Alfred said. "I pray that I am wrong, but I think you might have a piece of Kryptonite inside you Clark!"

"You aren't wrong at all Alfie," a voice emanated from Sieg's shoulder.

Sieg cautiously looked at his shoulder and like Clark and Alfred widened his eyes at what he saw. Standing on his shoulder was a woman, the size of an ant, dark haired and dressed in a blue and red costume.

* * *

Barry Allen was screaming, and members of his family were running, his grand niece ran through the city in his grandson's uniform, saving people block to block. Her father Wally, Barry's nephew did the same with the first Flash Jay Garrick. Jesse Quick even had to take time away from her daughter to help with evacuation of Central city. Within the very centre of the city, Barry fought for his life. But it wasn't against any super villain, not the rogues or any of the reverse Flashes. His own speed powers were going out of control. Every molecule of his body was vibrating, if anyone were to look at him he would be a mere blur. If time was slowed down to 0.1 seconds they would see that he was having a seizure. Every moment of his unique life flashed before his eyes, as did the moment of his other two lives. His memories became nearly impossible to distinguish.

He grew up without his mother, yet there was another world where he grew up with his mother. His best friend was Hal Jordan, but there was a world where he never met Hal Jordan, or Superman or Batman, or any of the heroes of the world. He had been married to Iris West for the past decade, but there was another world where he was in love with another woman. Barry gripped his head and grit his teeth together, the electrical effect of the speed force surged from his body. It was all becoming too much for him as he gagged and vomited. His legs felt tired, but he hadn't been running. He could see himself running though, in his old costume. But then he tackled himself and his costume suddenly changed.

_"Mum, I'm so sorry,"_ he said.

"Three worlds, all of your making Barry, you ran too often," a familiar voice taunted him.

"Thawne," Barry spat the name of his nemesis with venom.

"Perhaps, or I could be just part of your head, a speed force induced vision, how many people have you saved Barry? How sure can you be that you've always saved them? That you reached them in time? You remember Hot Pursuit, he travelled through time, maybe you've been travelling through time too. Every little save of yours, you never ran fast enough so you went back and tried again. You've never played hero Barry, you've played god!"

"No, I'm not like that," Barry retorted.

"Face it Barry, you've already begun to lose everything, you couldn't save mommy, you couldn't save Bart and you didn't change anything when you tried going back in time again, Thomas Wayne, Arthur, your mom, the whole world died and you just left them to die."

"NO!" Barry screamed.

His voice echoed through the streets of central city. Buildings came down, roads crumbled to pieces and the sparks of the speed force rose up to the sky. The storm could be seen all the way from Coast City.

* * *

Hal stood on the balcony of Carol's apartment, looking at the speed force storm that had consumed Central city. Behind him Carol gasped at the sheer destruction.

"We should go," Carol said.

"Go where? the Joker and his cronies will go anywhere, to any lengths, Clark's family, Bruce's sons, Barry's city, it's only a matter time before another one of us is hit."

"All the more reason for us to just leave Hal, I'm still a Star Sapphire, I can take us into space far away from all of this. You always wanted to see space again," Carol explained.

"But I'm not going to just stand around in safety whilst my best friends are fighting as hard as they can," Hal retorted.

"What can you do Hal?" Carol asked.

"Whatever I can, take a jet, maybe run reconnaissance on New York for Bruce, something, ANYTHING!" he yelled in frustration, turning away from the balcony.

Hal sat on the sofa, rubbing his eyes and bashing the arm rest. Since he was kicked out of the Corps his relationship with Carol had grown stronger. But his will had waned, at one time he had been a strong willed and brave person. He was afraid now, but not of the possibility of him dying, rather the certainty of his friends dying and him having done nothing to help. Ultimately what Hal Jordan feared even more than the fear of failure was his own powerlessness. He missed the power of the Green Lantern ring now more than ever.

* * *

Amnesty Bay was an ideal place for a by sea infiltration. Coast guards were nothing against an army. The light house was also an ideal place to invade, but also an ideal place to defend. Black Manta knew that his assault would be met with resistance, he didn't expect that resistance to be his own son. In his eyes, the boy didn't deserve the title, he was the result of a mere moment of weakness. Now he was more Atlantean than human, and Manta despised anything from Atlantis. Though he knew he needed allies to evenly match Aquaman.

"I'm surprised you stayed Kaldur," he refused to even acknowledge the boy by his birth name, Jackson Hyde. "After what happened to the last Aqua Lad, Aquaman goes through as many sidekicks as Batman," Manta explained.

"HANDS OFF!" Aqua Girl yelled, kicking Manta across the head.

His men emerged from the sea, firing microwave blasts at the aquatic heroes. Manta didn't need extra information to know how to beat Aquaman. Though the bud of many jokes, Aquaman was capable of diving to the deepest and darkest depths of the oceans, depths no human could survive. His skin was impervious to bullets and he was well trained. Manta already got the well trained part down with his hired guns, the technology part was easy to get a hold of. The blasters his men used had been based on the optic ray built into his helmet. Jackson's water bearers formed a useless shield that Manta easily blasted through.

"Hold your fire," Manta commanded.

Lorena was by Jackson's side, nursing the burn on his chest. She glared at the man, a man she and Jackson himself refused to acknowledge as his father.

"ARTHUR CURRY! COME OUT!" Manta roared.

Aquaman had his share of complicated origin stories, but only one of them was right. He was Arthur Curry, the son of Thomas Curry. The result of a love affair between the princess of Atlantis Atlanta and Thomas, whom though they were truly in love could not be together forever. Likewise, there was a greater depth to Black Manta's life. Once he could have considered himself a good man despite his mercenary life style. He and his father were thieves and treasures hunters and business had been good, until the fateful day Manta became a part of Aquaman's life. Regret over the decision he made wasn't a factor, he never once regretted going to the damned lighthouse to steal a sample of Arthur's blood. He never regretted the heart attack that killed Thomas Curry, and not once did he believe he or his father deserved Arthur's blind rage.

"So many things about your lives are forgotten, Wonder Woman's murder of Maxwell Lord, Supergirl working with the Kryptonians who nearly went to war with us, your son's death," Manta laughed as he walked past Kaldur and Lorena. "There's one other thing they've forgotten Curry, and if they remembered, if they cared, then this great lie you tell people will be cast aside. You're not a hero Aquaman, you have blood on your hands just like me," he looked down at Kaldur and smiled. "I'm betting he never told you, he killed my father!"

Suddenly, torrents of water rose up, forming fists and clubs that bashed Manta's men. Black Manta fired a blast towards the top of the lighthouse. The light went out as Arthur and Mera leapt into battle. Arthur wore his clothes from earlier, Mera however was dressed in a sleeveless version of her green scaled outfit. She summoned more torrents of water, turning them into blades that sliced apart the weapons Manta's men used. Black Manta fired a harpoon from his wrist, which Aquaman easily grabbed. But as Black Manta was pulled towards his foe he fired his optic blast, hitting Arthur in the chest. The heat of the blast burnt half of Arthur's shirt off, but he still fought on. He threw a punch that Manta ducked underneath. Manta then bought his head up, striking Arthur's chin and following with a flurry of punches. He finished with a blast that knocked Arthur into the wall.

"But I'm not the only one with a grudge Curry, there are others who have scores to settle," as Manta spoke, more people began to rise from the water.

Mera narrowed her eyes as a woman bearing her face jumped onto the surface. She was clad in red and silver armour, and her hair was pink as opposed to Mera's red. Mera recognised her twin sister Siren immediately.

"In fact I guess you could say this is a day for family reunions," Manta huffed as his second partner emerged.

He was clad in a black suit with silver scales on the belly area and the bands around his boots and gloves. His face, minus his mouth was covered by a purple helmet with red eyes, the helmet linked with the purple scales on his neck and shoulders. Hanging off of his shoulders was a purple cape and in his right hand was a silver trident, the edge of which former a ring. Ocean Master slammed his trident into the ground as he walked onto land, narrowing his eyes at his half brother.

"Hello bastard!"

* * *

Batman and Jason were in the fight of their lives, both pushed their acrobatics to their limit. The enhanced thugs were incredibly strong, bearing levels equal to Solomon Grundy, and they were unexpectedly fast. Jason flipped over one thug and slid underneath the legs of another. Batman charged his gauntlets with electricity, delivering several punches to one thug before jumping onto his back. He directed the thug, applying pressure to his neck and making him flail his arms about. The thug slammed into one that tried to sneak up on Jason. The former Robin then jumped onto a crate, running and jumping from one box to another as he made his way to the crane. Bruce yelled as he was thrown off by one of the thugs, slamming into one of the metallic crates. He stood up and braced himself as the four monsters began to approach him. Suddenly, a crate landed on one of the men, seemingly crushing him.

"Time for a little payback," Jason said as he directed the crane.

He swung the crane around, grabbing another crate. Then he bought the crane around, attempting to hit another thug. But the thug was ready this time, stopping the crate and causing the crane to shake. Batman fired his grappling hook towards the top of the crate. Just as Jason opened the cockpit door, Bruce activated the accelerator setting on the grapple. Quickly grabbing Jason's hand, the added speed from the accelerator grapple launched the pair upwards and down towards the Gotham streets. Bruce fired his grapple again, using the swing to slow his fall until they both landed on the road, rolling towards the pavement.

"Oracle establish a link with GCPD," Batman commanded.

"Batman, what's the situation at the docks?" the voice of Jim Gordon, Batman's long-time ally against crime echoed over the communicator.

"The bombs disarmed Commissioner, there's an enhanced buried underneath a crate, employ Blockbuster containment protocols," Bruce explained.

"Blockbuster containment, haven't had to use those in a while, does this have anything to do with those three muscled guys bouncing across the rooftops?"

Batman and Jason immediately processed Jim's question and dived out of the landing zone. The other three thugs let craters in the ground as they landed, all three grinning like Joker as they approached their respective targets. Two went for Jason, whilst the third grabbed Bruce. Batman sprayed a substance over the thugs eyes, causing him to yell out in pain, acid was the equivalent of mace for the super powered thugs. Batman pushed a series of buttons on his gauntlets, relaying coordinates. He then threw explosive pellets and batarangs at the thug, pushing him back.

"Pathetic, you think that can stop me?" the man laughed.

"Actually, it's the distraction," Bruce said before he jumped up.

He performed a flawless flip just as the bat mobile raced around the corner. Bruce landed within the driver's seat and slammed on the afterburners, hitting the enhanced thug. Jason dived out of the way as the bat mobile drove through the two thugs attacking him, dragging both across the road. Batman drove them to the next block and then pulled off a reverse. He span the car around, hitting one of the thugs with the back end. Then he activated the after burner, burning both thugs before driving, and slamming straight into the thug he had left behind.

"You've upgraded the old thing, anything else this thing has that it didn't have before?" Jason asked, knowing the car's external microphones would relay what he said.

Batman let his actions speak for him. He pushed a few buttons, causing mechanisms across the body of the car to click and expand. The front of the car and the wheels spread outwards and a hatch on the back opened. A massive, multi barrelled cannon popped up and targeting lasers trailed over the thugs at the end of the street. Jason whistled, almost impressed by the powerhouse the car had become.

"Let me guess, plastic rounds for crowd control," he said.

"For these men, straight up explosives," Batman said.

On the car's targeting display, red diamonds appeared over each thug. With all the targets painted, Batman let loose a flurry of missiles. The missiles hit their targets, knocking all three unconscious.

"Okay, that was pretty impressive," Jason muttered.

"Get in," Batman commanded, opening the cockpit and returning the car to normal.

"Not going to gas me and send me to Blackgate?"

Batman simply narrowed his eyes at Jason. It wasn't an answer but it was enough of an order for Jason to obey. He climbed into the seat next to Bruce and watched as the blast shield cover the cockpit and the bat mobile sent into its secure mode.

"Alfred are you there?" Bruce asked over the radio.

Jason and Bruce looked at one another, usually the old butler was always ready to respond. Eventually the screen opened and Alfred appeared.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Batman, good to see you Master Jason," Alfred said.

Jason nodded in respect, despite his issues with Bruce he still cared a great deal about Alfred. The robins were as much Alfred's sons as they were the Batman's.

"What was the delay for?" Bruce asked.

"Guests in the cave, two quite welcome, another not so much," Alfred, stepped away from the camera and gave Jason and Bruce room to see.

The Atom analogue villain was trapped within a box, one Sieg continually flicked, causing the woman to clutch her ears in pain. Bruce however took a greater interest in Clark's condition, the man was using a breathing apparatus. That alone told Bruce enough about the situation.

"I suppose you're wondering what..."

"She put Kryptonite inside Superman, who bought the boy to the cave after fleeing New York, when she gloated about it Superman used his freeze breath on her and you used the containment unit Palmer designed to trap her," Bruce explained.

"That's, actually quite right," Alfred said.

"What you guys don't know is that she's..."

"From an alternate dimension," Batman said, interrupting the boy.

"You really are the world's greatest detective, isn't there anything that surprises you?" Sieg asked.

"Batman, Power girl is dead, Metallo somehow got Kryptonite from Earth 2," Clark said.

His friend's voice was weak, but Bruce remained focused on Sieg. Of course he still felt sympathy for Clark, and mourned Power Girl's death in his own silent way. But his priority remained on the safety of the league and his city.

"You're from that other world that had appeared in that singularity aren't you?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, but I promise you I had nothing to do with your cousin's death," Sieg said, looking at Clark as he spoke. "I'm also not from this lady's Earth, we don't have an Atom in our world, but we do have shrinking heroes who get underestimated...this lady though kind of earned the reputation," Sieg turned away from the box as the woman flashed her middle finger at him.

"You don't need to be a detective or a journalist to figure out that resources and people have been taken from more than one world, Joker has a whole army of Harley Quinns," Clark explained.

"Our Harley's going to be pissed," Jason muttered.

"Listen I'm sorry I didn't come to you guys sooner, but honestly I had no idea something like this would happen. I thought the interaction between my world and yours was an isolated case, that I was the only thing that broke the dimensional barrier," Sieg explained.

"Why was it broken to begin with?" Bruce asked.

"Our world and yours had been linked by a madman with an object called the Tesseract, the only way to close the portal was for someone to go through and close it from the other side."

"Your heroes just sent one of their own away?" Clark inquired.

"We do what we have to, but no, no one told me to go through, I volunteered and had to knock out my own father to do it," Sieg said.

"You left everything you had built over there behind?" Alfred asked.

"I had to, otherwise your world and mine could have been destroyed, I didn't want to go of course I had quite a few good friends there, I even made found and made peace with my brother. But none of that would have mattered if I didn't make the call and did what a hero truly does, sacrifice!"

"Sometimes," Clark coughed as he stood up. "Sometimes heroism is having the courage not to make a sacrifice, to fight with everything you have so that no one else dies, to not give up hope and to lead by example," the Kryptonian said, standing proudly despite how much he had been weakened.

Sieg looked at Clark and the way he poked his chest out and set his fists on his waist. He then began to chuckle, wiping the tears he had gotten from home sickness.

"You would get along very well with this hero on my world, you're both inspiring and patriotic figures," he said.

"Why should we believe anything you say?" Jason asked.

"Because all I have is my word and my deeds over the past few days," Sieg said.

"It's enough for me, but I'm not a super hero so Master Br...Batman what do you think?"

"I already know who Batman is Mr Pennyworth," Sieg said.

"Yeah I know who Batman is too, Thomas Wayne's little shit brother Bruce," the Atom girl said.

Alfred flicked the box, causing the woman to roll onto her backside.

"Well Bruce Wayne does fund Batman Incorporated, he matches the build of Batman, when Batman was gone and that armoured guy was running around Wayne was also unaccounted for. Bruce Wayne has adopted numerous teenagers who all have black hair and match the general build of Robin, one who probably took over as Batman for a while, explaining why you were still seen in the public spotlight," Sieg explained.

"Impressive, you might have another Robin here," Clark said.

"Over Damian's dead body," Alfred muttered.

"But more importantly, all those times you smiled for the camera, the times you came off as selfish and egotistical...I could tell you were acting," there was a solemn tone to Sieg's voice. "From what little I can remember about my biological father I know that he abandoned me, I was raised by a good person who was taken from me too, then I get this power and a great duty thrust upon me whilst I watched the heroes I admired make compromise after compromise. But I didn't worry any of my friends or any of the adults who supervised me because...I learnt how to fake smile, I knew who you were instantly Bruce Wayne, because I'd seen the same expression on myself and on quite a few orphans in my world. Your parents were killed by a criminal when you were just eight years old...you don't go through something like that and become a shallow billionaire playboy!"

Bruce remained as silent as his former war and best friends. Not so much out of a sense of awe like the other three, but admiration of the young man's observation skills. Most of what he suspected had been confirmed when Clark took him to the bat cave, but he still formed the idea relatively early.

"Batman is Bruce Wayne?" Godiva asked.

"Oh, I just remembered you," Sieg sighed.

"It's all right, most people do," Jason shrugged his shoulders.

"We'll need to coordinate with the rest of the league, have you been able to get a hole of Oliver?" Batman asked Alfred, ignoring the exchange.

"He's in a safe house on the outskirts of Star City, his exile still applies, Donna and Roy are together and there's still been no word from Wonder Woman," Alfred explained.

"I can barely hear the sirens in Metropolis, something's happening there, I need to go to the Planet to check on Lois," Clark said.

"You're not in any condi..."

WHOOSH!"

The Kryptonian was already gone before Sieg could finish his speech.

"Great, wonder if that ever happens with Batman," Sieg said.

"Oh all the time," Alfred said.

Both looked towards the Atom analogue as she began to laugh. She had a hand to her ear, indicating an ear piece, also indicated a line of communication. The white dwarf disruptor prevented her from speaking, but she could still listen to her boss's reports.

"You might want to turn a TV on," she grinned.

Alfred switched the bat computer to TV mode, frowning as Joker's face appeared on screen. He switched the channel, only to again see Joker's face. Even foreign networks were showing Joker's face with the countries native language subtitled in.

"Hello, Olla, Bonjour, Guten Tag, etc, people of the world, I need no introduction. This young man however does, allow me to introduce Lantern Boy," Joker said.

"Oh no, I forgot about him too," Sieg said.

Godiva gasped as Joker's Harleys bought Lantern Boy forward.

"Meet Lantern Junior..wait what?" Joker looked to the side, listening to one of his minions. "Big Atomic Lantern Boy? Well no wonder he wasn't responding to me, and who came up with that ridiculous name anyway, it's too long, oh who cares? Anyway, I made a very reasonable request people and governments of the world, I asked for the Justice League and what do I get? A guy on steroids and in armour who was tricked into believing he could be the next big icon, the guy on the recruitment adds whose never led a team for more than few issues, a general from America who only recently became relevant, the politically correct Batman, the British sex appeal, the Chinese general who only recently became relevant, the fourth hundredth man to use the Rocket Red armour, the reject from the Justice Society and this fat little thing," Joker suddenly swung around, hitting Lantern Boy with a crow bar.

In Japan the other members of the Super Young team watched in horror as their friend was beaten down by the Joker. Aquazon in particular was distraught, tears flowing down her face as she rushed to the door.

"We'll never make it in time," Super-Bat said.

"Not if we stand around here," she retorted.

"Now the rest of you, who were they? Ah yes the Super Young Team, should use the Japanese translation, anything sounds cooler in Japanese. Anyway, to save you all the trouble of debating whether to come here and rescue your friend I'll make it very easy for you," Joker explained as he reached into his coat.

"No please no..."

BLAM!

Sieg let out a yell, falling to his knees. Godiva and Alfred stood in shock. Each member of the Super Young Team, usually a group of care free individuals suddenly fell into depression. Lightning Flash held onto Aquazon as she cried and Super Bat looked out of the window, his expression finally as dark as the hero he tried to imitate. Lolita Canary however flew outside and screamed her heart out.

"If you're all shocked don't be, I've killed teen heroes before," Joker chuckled.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Jason yelled.

He smashed the panel of the bat mobile as he and Bruce drove through the streets of Gotham.

"Let's do a list of casualties, Galaxor dead, Uncle Sam dead, Lantern Boy dead, Hawkman semi-dead, and its only a matter of time before my new friends find the rest of the C-list rejects. My dear Harley's are keeping the roads clear and people in their homes, so evacuation isn't an option, only confrontation...now government, don't get involved, Society, Titans, Teen Titans, Young Justice, whatever other junior teams and wannabe big leaguers don't get involved, I want the Justice League, so Justice League...GET OFF YOUR ASSES AND TRY TO STOP ME ALREADY!"

"Calm down Mistah J," one of his Harleys said, she wore a nurses outfit.

"Thank you Arkham Asylum Nurse Harley, you and the girls have done well for me, I'm glad I ditched old unreliable for you girls," Joker sighed in pleasure as Harley rubbed his head.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH! OLD UNRELIABLE! OLD UNRELIABLE!" the real Harley Quinn yelled within the confines of Arkham.

"Calm down Harley," Ivy said in a bored tone.

Underneath Wayne manor however Alfred watched as Sieg slammed his fist into the ground and let out a hysterical yell.

"Damn it, I left him there, we just left him there to die," he cried.

"It wouldn't be the first time we've lost someone because we didn't fight hard enough, the only question young man is," Alfred began, helping Sieg off of the floor. "Are you going to stop fighting?" he asked.

"I can't help, not without my powers, Deathstorm literally ripped them out of me," Sieg said.

"He does a lot of OW!" the Atom analogue yelled as Godiva gave her box a shake.

"Bruce doesn't have powers, nor do any of the Robins, but that has never stopped them from doing what they could," Alfred said sternly, the way a father would speak to his son.

Sieg wiped his eyes and nodded his head. Lantern Boy's death was still on his mind, but it was helping to drive him this time. He looked towards the costume displays with a determined expression.

* * *

**World Defence Council base**

Briggs turned the TV off as he turned to the displays of the council members.

"An utter catastrophe," council one said.

"I know sir but..."

"A second attempt cannot afford to fail," council four said.

"With all due respect councillors at the time the team moved in with little info. Now that we are aware of the Joker's resources we can begin planning a secondary strike," Emerson explained.

"Do you have any heroes left to deploy?" council three asked.

"Of course they do, they wouldn't come back if they didn't," council five huffed in annoyance.

"Yes, the new team I've assembled has a better known roster, they are reliable sirs," Briggs said.

"Ma'am," council four corrected.

"Stop the Joker by any means necessary Briggs, if a none government sponsored team actually stops him then it'll show that we can't be relied upon. If the military get involved it'll be a massacre, get those heroes into the city and make sure they stop that crazy bastard," council one explained.

"Yes sir, I promise..." but the line was cut before Briggs could finish.

He wiped the sweat from his brow as he turned to the new team he had gathered.

"They've already killed several people for our failure, including some of the old team, if this assault fails there's a good chance Joker will set it off," Briggs explained.

"You don't have to worry about the bomb or the Joker Briggs," the leader of the team said.

From Greece came the Olympian, shirtless, wearing a gold helmet and clad in black trousers worn underneath his signature golden fleece. Dr Light came from Japan, wearing the glowing white and black costume she wore during her time on Grayson's league. Kevin Kho, the current used of the O.M.A.C system volunteered. From Australia came the hero Tasmanian Devil. Red Star, formerly of the Titans was recruited on behalf of Russia, whilst the new Shining Knight Sir Ystin sat on his/her winged horse.

"We'll take care of him, by any means necessary," the leader and psychic Manchester Black grinned as his eyes glowed.

Next Chapter 5: Defence

* * *

Killing off Lantern Boy was hard for me, he and the other members of the Super Young team were some of my favourite bits from Final Crisis. But the casualty list doesn't end there I'm afraid. Next time, Batman and his allies fight for their city, Aquaman for his life and the new League launch a strike against the Joker.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own DC

* * *

Brave New World

Chapter 5: Defence

Gotham had stood against repeated attack against its infrastructure, even before the time of the dark knight. The city had stood through depression, political turmoil, terrorism and kept its sense of hope through a staggering crime rate. Most people outside of the city saw it as lost, it had one of the biggest crime rates in America and time and time again officials of the city had either been corrupted by their power or driven insane by it. But to the people of Gotham City, the dark, grimy streets was home and they were proud to be on the watch of a silent protector, a watchful guardian, their dark knight. Leviathan tried to infiltrate the city structure through its schools, starting from the youngest grade upwards. Like groups in the Middle East they tried to groom the youth to fight their battles. This succeeded in some places, but in others it failed miserably. It was those from the streets of Gotham, the true majority of the city that rose to be something better.

"Trouble at the docks, look like military guys," Duke Thomas sent the text message on his phone and jumped off of his viewpoint, slowing his fall with the garbage bins.

He climbed out and began a slow walk into the busy streets.

"Coincidentally the bridges are being closed down," Daxton Chill sent a text of his own. "Cops look confident, like they could break the neck of anyone who tried to jump them!"

"Definitely got some not cops hanging out by the social centre," Isabela Ortiz reported.

"Something's going down by the train station, ladies were dressing into Batwomen costumes," Dre Cipriani pulled his hood over his head as he walked away from the train station.

"Maybe it's a rally?"

"The first Batwoman's costume," he corrected Troy Walker, who was witnessing something at Gotham national park.

"Might be nothing, but noticed a woman walking her daughter home from work, single mother probably, two guys were watching her."

"Kind of like you?"

"No, even though they weren't watching in a weirdo way they were pretty suspicious."

"Okay W.A.R. send photos and recordings to Commissioner Gordon's phone through secure line, post up through face book," Duke texted each of his friends, relaying orders.

They didn't all have to punch criminals to make a difference. The group consisted of young people, most of them seventeen, all of them dedicated to helping their city through an anonymous spy network that aided the police and Batman Inc. They were the Robins of Batman Inc. But not even the school children were exempt from fighting for Gotham City. They didn't need street smarts, observational skills and prodigal minds to know that their home would soon be at war. Airships were floating over the skyscrapers of Gotham's business district, choppers flew through the old streets and vertical takeoff landing craft circled around the police station almost mockingly. Jim Gordon looked at one of the aircraft as it flew over his usual waiting spot. The bright light of the bat signal was eclipsed by the choppers. On the other side of Gotham, a heavy troop transport landed in Gotham's sports stadium. Its hatch opened to reveal armies of drones, remote control vehicles with tank tracks and twin barrelled AA guns. Rows of soldiers followed the drones, all dressed in white and red military styled armour. Leading them was a man in military fatigues and a grey suit, plates of black armour covered his chest and arms, the Arkham symbol was drawn across his chest. The man's face was covered by a black helmet with 'batman ears' on it, the surface of the helmet seemed to be like a television screen and flashed a pair of glowing blue eyes.

"We've got a group that's ready for a war," Stephanie Brown, AKA Batgirl lowered her binoculars and reported to Oracle.

Barbara Gordon, one of the first proud women to use the Batgirl identity regarded her computer screens and the information flowing through her mind as any tactician would. The man responsible for her spinal injury was holding a city hostage, the government was making unwise, even foolhardy rosters for a new Justice League and countless other incidents were being called in. On her right was a situation report on the evacuation of Central City, which was experiencing an Earthquake that was devastating the city. Behind her was a holographic display of a picture taken the day the Green Lantern's left Earth, three left the planet but hours later another green light approached the planet and as heading towards Coast City. Her left screen displayed the names and faces of teenage heroes who had disappeared.

Most of the missing heroes had been members of the Teen Titans. First to disappear had been the cousin of Zatanna, Zachary Zatara was expected to appear at a show in Paris, but he never turned up. He was arrogant and had very few friends, even his old assistant and girlfriend Bunny hadn't been involved in his life. His disappearance was overlooked until a report that Amy Allen (no relation to Barry Allen) hadn't turned up for debriefing with the military. Amy was in actuality the teenaged version of Captain Atom and went by the name Bombshell. As time went by the circumstances of the disappearances showed only one pattern, that the subjects disappeared without explanation and so suddenly. Plastic Man reported his son Offspring almost immediately upon reaching the forty eight hour mark, Freddy Freeman and Mary Batson's adopted parents showed a similar concern when they reported the two champions of Shazam missing. Others were soon added to the list, Kid Vulcan, Little Barda, Osiris, Prysm, Argent, Misfit, Hardrock, Son of the Fallen, Young Frankenstein, Atlee the new Terra, Lagoon Boy and Jericho. Joseph Wilson's disappearance had been reported by Roy Harper, it had prevented the two from reforming the Titans and Joseph's sister Rose, AKA Ravager had gone back to her violent ways.

The disappearances, kidnappings or erasures from reality, whatever they were couldn't be solved by Oracle alone and she knew that. Her priority had to be on the armed forces preparing to attack her home city. She identified the leader of the mercenaries as the Arkham Knight, an old identity Jason used when he gave mercenary work a shot. Her second bird of prey agent, a girl called Harper Row reported a bike gang moving into the city before the bridges were closed. The bikes they used seemed to have futuristic tech and every rider/gang member wore clown makeup and dressed in clothing that parodied the different looks of the Joker and his associates. They were even led by, as impossible as it sounded three different Harley Quinns. One Harley Quinn had pale white skin and tied her blonde hair into pig tails, with each end of the pigtails dyed blue and pink respectively, she wore blue and red shorts with fishnet stockings, a red jacket over a white and red shirt with the words 'Daddy's little monster' printed on it, boots and numerous rings and bands. The second Harley Quinn wore a leather corset over a black and red top that left her arms and cleavage exposed, her elbows and wrists were covered by leather sleeves, leather trousers hugged her legs and she painted her face with white paint, black eye marks and lipstick, this Harley had also dyed her hair black and covered her face with some kind of veil. The last of the Harley's wore a version of her classic outfit, but instead the Jester mask was bigger and covered her eyes as opposed to her usual domino mask, holes in her suit exposed her thighs, she wore red and white socks with a black and red slipper on either foot, the toes of the slippers had bells on them, bells were also attached to her white jester collar, her arms were covered by red and white sleeves, with Shakespearean styled cuffs and black and red gloves on either hand.

"This isn't Leviathan Bruce, its Joker," Barbara said.

"I think we kind of already figured that out Babs!"

"Jason? Why are you in the Bat mobile?" Barbara asked.

"Daddy left me the keys, he had to stop at the entertainment district, I'd love to chat but I've got some pay back to get," Jason grinned as he cut communications.

He swerved the car around the corner, switching it to battle mode and aiming the cannon at a Titan thug. The hulking giant widened his eyes before a blast threw him against the wall. Jason then proceeded to fire bullet after bullet from the riot gun, knocking out any shop lifter or thug still on the street. He turned the cannon quickly, firing another flurry of shots into the opportunistic criminals that lurked around the block.

"Rioters are taken down, oh wait I cut the line, oh well," Jason sighed before switching the car to driving mode.

Jason drove the car through the familiar streets of Gotham, streets he knew off by heart. Often he knew what would be waiting for him around every block of the city, but today was a different day with very different threats. When he turned the corner, Jason came front to back with a gigantic tank.

"You've got to be kidding me, who would pilot that thing?" the former Robin wondered.

"I suppose tastes can't carry across every reality," a voice said over the radio.

"So, you're the guy copying my old identity," Jason smirked.

"Well we do copy identities a lot don't we?" the Arkham Knight chuckled.

He turned the tank around, aiming the cannons at the bat mobile. Jason swerved the vehicle around, pelting the surface of the tank with machine gun fire. He then activated the afterburner and rammed the tank head on. The impact dented the front of the bat mobile, and redirected the tank's cannon, causing it to fire upwards. Arkham Knight pushed several buttons, coordinating the drones he had in the area. Helicopter drones fired at the bat mobile, but Jason pulled it back. He fired more shots from the AA gun, hitting the aerial drones. Jason performed a 180 degree wheel spin, firing his cannon at the missile launching drones surrounding him.

"Hope my 'brothers' are doing better than me right now," he muttered.

* * *

Nightwing ran across the rooftops, dodging the bullets fired by his pursuers. He jumped and fired his grappling hook, swinging himself to another building. Then he took cover as the soldiers continued to fire at him.

"Well this is just great, getting ganged up on by less sane versions of one of my worst enemies," Dick said.

"Oh less sane, you've got it wrong, we've completely lost it!"

Dick rolled out of the way just in time. A man in an orange and black suit came down from the roof, driving his swords into the ground. He pulled the swords out, spinning them around and facing down Nightwing. The first Robin looked at the man in confusion, the costume certainly had elements of Slade Wilson's, but at the same time it clearly wasn't Slade. It was completely orange, with black padding on the side, the knees, and around the man's white eye lenses.

"Okay, the other guys I've already figured out, but who are you?" Nightwing asked.

"Oh I'm definitely an alternate version of Deathstroke, I got another name in my universe but right now you can call me DEATHPOOL!"

"Why did you yell that out?" Nightwing asked, drawing his escrima sticks and guarding against the blades.

"Oh you see this thing usually happens in the comics where a person's super name is drawn bigger than the other text, and usually given its own colour with a logo added on," Deathpool explained, clanging his swords against Nightwing's sticks.

Nightwing turned and jumped back as other versions of Deathstroke came down from the building. One was dressed in a general's uniform, wore no mask and had a patch fused to his eye. Another was dressed in military styled armour.

"Dude it's the Michael Hogan and Manu Bennet Deathstroke's, guess which one was actually loyal to the comics," Deathpool muttered.

"Manu Bennet as Deathstroke actually makes sense, but that old guy from Battlestar Galactica," Nightwing shook his head in dismay.

"I know, completely wrong casting choice, should have gone for a role that better suited him," Deathpool said.

The merc with the mouth yelped as Nightwing kicked him across the head. Nightwing jumped as both Deathstroke's came towards him. He kicked general Deathstroke across the face, and knocked the military Deathstroke's sword out of his hand. The man quickly drew a pistol and began shooting at Nightwing, who flawlessly flipped back, dodging the shots with the near super human agility that came with Batman's training. Dick Grayson however had been a natural acrobat before being taken in by Bruce Wayne, so he easily dodged even the machine gun fire of two more Deathstrokes (one of whom strangely wore a winter coat and Russian style gasmask, and another even more strangely dressed as a pirate). Dick ran around the corner and threw a smoke bomb behind him. Deathpool and the other two Deathstroke's pursued through the smoke, but stepped on the mines Dick had also placed. Instead of triggering explosives, the three men had their feet trapped in a glue like substance.

"Red Robin, Robin, that last call from Oracle was right, we're dealing with alternate reality versions of our enemies, but that doesn't mean we're dealing with less tamer versions," Nightwing explained over the radio.

"I don't know, I just tied a Harley in a nurses outfit against a lamppost," Red Robin said.

He sped through the streets on his motorcycle, firing stung rounds into rioters he came across.

"Didn't know you had it in you Drake," Damian said.

He had already dispatched one version of Deathstroke (key word, a version) and was looking down on Nightwing with a grin. Damian jumped off of the roof and used his cape to glide in front of Nightwing.

"GET DOWN NOW!" he yelled.

Both sons of the bat dived, dodging the full effect of a rocket blast. It was still enough to throw them both through a fence, and down into a junk yard. Nightwing threw a banana peel off of his sleeve, whilst Robin twisted his cape, ringing out the grease he had landed in. The two of them looked up to the top of the yard. Standing there was Deathstroke, or at least a Deathstroke in the uniform they remembered.

"Finally got someone who can understand you Slade?" Nightwing asked.

"I guess you can only betray your family so many times," Robin added.

"I'm not the Slade Wilson you know, family never became an issue for me, my world joining with another ended those kinds of concerns," Deathstroke explained.

He drew a broadsword from his back, and a pistol from his holster. The other counterparts Nightwing and Robin had encountered, slowly began to join Deathstroke's side.

"But you're right, I do have people who can truly understand me, and the perfect lieutenants for my Deathstrike clan," Deathstroke grinned underneath his mask.

Nightwing and Robin stood back to back, both keeping their escrima sticks raised as men and women in Deathstroke costumes emerged from the shadows. One had a gold chain wrapped around his arm, with an incredible sharp blade on the end of it. Another had metal arms, whilst the man beside him had ice on his gloves. There was a trio of women in Deathstroke costumes, one wielding a pair of sais, another with a pair of bladed fans, and the third span a purple staff around. One Deathstroke wore a breather mask and wielded a pair of hook swords, and another had a red cybernetic eye. Another Deathstroke popped a pair of swords out of his wrists, and revealed a set of razor sharp teeth. The ground suddenly shook and two more creatures in Deathstroke suits emerged, one was a giant of a man and had four arms, and the other was a centaur of all things.

"In case you haven't gotten the hint, they're all from Mortal Kombat," Deathpool said.

"Who is he talking to?" pirate Deathstroke asked.

"I stopped trying to figure it out a long time ago," Red Son Deathstroke shrugged his shoulders and aimed his rifle at the robins.

Dick and Damian braced themselves as the Deathstrokes, and the Deathstrike clan attacked. Suddenly, a blast flew into the ground, cutting a circle around the pair. Nightwing instantly recognised the blast. He looked up and smiled, floating in the air was the one who fired the blast. Koriander, or Starfire as she was commonly known as, was one of Nightwing's first loves. Her orange skin and hair seemed to glow even in the moon light. She wore purple thigh high boots, a purple long sleeve shirt, that left her belly exposed and had holes that revealed her shoulders, and a pair of purple shorts. There was a green crystal on the chest of her shirt, her costume seemed less revealing than Nightwing was used to, but seeing her was still a godsend. Starfire smiled at Nightwing, causing Robin to shake his head in disgust.

"Good to see Red Robin called for help," he said.

Starfire wasn't alone, she had bought Raven, the dark cloaked daughter of Trigon, whom would never live up to her father's wishes. Victor Stone, AKA Cyborg, another veteran Titan and Garfield Logan, AKA Beast Boy, the green furred shape shifter of the team.

"I bet you thought you had the advantage Slade," Nightwing grinned as the Titans flew into action.

A couple of more blocks away, Red Robin continued his drive on his motorcycle, but he wasn't alone. Ravager, the daughter of Slade Wilson rode beside him, with Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and Static flying above them. They were heading straight towards the under siege GCPD building.

* * *

**Amnesty bay**

There was no escape, only the fight, Mera was good, but she was also pregnant and fighting against people who also controlled water. Their abilities were redundant, both disrupting one another. That didn't mean she couldn't fight at all. Much like her sister and Kaldur, she shaped water into weapons, knives that she used to deflect Siren's blades. The twins were locked in a rage filled battle with one another. Aquagirl and Aqua Lad, both engaged Manta's men and the Atlantean soldiers. Arthur however had to contend with both Manta and Ocean Master.

"This is the end of it all brother, I will drag your corpse through Atlantis and show our people that I was meant to rule," Orm said.

He thrust his trident at Arthur, who ducked and batted the blade aside. Arthur jumped up to avoid Black Manta's energy blast. Ocean Master then fired electricity from his staff, hitting Arthur in the chest and knocking him the light house. Kaldur smashed two of Manta's troops with water maces, and then shaped them into shields, blocking energy blasts fired at him. Aqua Girl jumped and kicked two Atlanteans, before punching a manta trooper across the face.

"Kaldur," Manta said, beginning to walk towards his son.

Kaldur shaped the water into swords and deflected Manta's knife. Black Manta fired his harpoon, and Kaldur tilted his head to the left. The blade scratched his cheek, but the attack provided him an opening. An opening that Manta wouldn't let him take, hitting him with an energy blast that threw him across the ground. Arthur jumped out of the light house, throwing his trident at Manta. The man side stepped the projectile and braced himself for Arthur's punch. He took the punch cleanly, then countered with a right cross. At the same time Ocean Master attempted to stab Arthur from behind. Seeing the man's approach, Aqua girl rolled back and threw one of her opponents, hitting Orm in the back.

"You betrayed us all sister, our father, Nereus, you will no longer be welcome in Xebel," Siren hissed at her sister, kicking her across the head.

"Arthur was not our enemy, why couldn't any of you see that?" Mera asked.

"He's an Atlantean," Siren retorted.

"Their culture is no different than ours, why should we let a thousand year history drag us down, to decide our conflicts for us? It makes us no different from the surface dwellers," Mera explained.

Siren suddenly elbowed her sister in the face, knocking her to the ground.

"Don't you dare compare us to them," she snarled, bringing her daggers down towards her sister.

Mera quickly flung her legs up, kicking Siren in the chin. The force of the blow threw her back. Kaldur kicked two of the Xebelians, and then dived into the water. Following his lead, Aqua girl took a running jump, flipped and then dived under.

"All you have done in your life is run away bastard, from your heritage, from the crown, and from the responsibility that comes with your power," Orm explained, attempting to stab Arthur again and again.

Arthur ducked and sidestepped each blow, grabbing the handle of the trident and wrestling with his brother. The lenses of Ocean Master's helmet flared as he pushed Arthur back.

"You failed Atlantis time and time again, failed your protégés, Tula, Gar, the world thinks of you as a joke, and Atlantis as just another myth," Orm pulled the trident free, smacking Arthur with the flat side of it.

He then released a blast of electricity, throwing Arthur into the dirt. Mera immediately rushed to Arthur's side, getting in Orm's way. An energy blast from Manta however, struck her in the back.

"Pathetic brother, truly and utterly pathetic, and to think, there was once a time I wanted to be you," Ocean Master said.

Mera's eyes suddenly released a blue glow. Water shot off of the shore, water charged with electricity. Kaldur swam in the wave, his arm tattoos glowing as he charged the water. Ocean Master and Siren threw their hands forward, attempting to block the wave. Water whips suddenly shot out of the wave, smacking Siren and Orm across their faces. Aqua girl and Aqua Lad jumped out of the water, the latter forming a pair of water hammers. Kaldur slammed the hammer's across his father's helmet, knocking it off of his face. Mera and Arthur then both ran in, as Aqua girl kicked Siren's legs. As Siren fell, Mera thrust her feet forward, kicking Siren in the face. Aquaman drove his fist into Orm's chest, then punched him across the face so hard, that his helmet shattered. With all three dazed, and their soldiers confused, the villain's prey escaped back into the water. Orm ran a hand across his face, growling in frustration. He slammed his trident against the ground, gripping it tightly.

"Very well brother, it seems that if I cannot kill you, I must at least take something from you," Ocean Master aimed his trident at the lighthouse.

The blast of electricity he released, overloaded the light, blowing it and the top half of the lighthouse apart.

"Your home brother, and another disaster on your conscience, and know this brother, THIS IS THE END OF DAYS FOR YOU! NO MATTER WHERE YOU HIDE WE WILL COME FOR YOU! FOR YOUR LOVED ONES! EVEN FOR STRANGERS YOU JUST BUMP INTO! YOU AND ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS! YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!"

Far away from the smouldering wreck, Arthur looked at his burning home, the threat his brother had made, and the startling realisation of what would happen. Without the light, ships could not approach the harbour, no captain was stupid enough to attempt it. But those ships left without a light, became primary targets for something else. Aquaman swam until he saw the silhouettes of Xebel forces. The soldiers were swimming towards ships that had weighed anchor.

"No, you won't bring our fight to the shores of Amnesty bay, or anywhere else Orm, innocent people won't suffer because of it," Arthur said as he put both index fingers on his temple.

He reached out through the water with his mind, to those nearby who would answer his call. Pushing his reach to its limit, he thought of the depths and the creatures that lived there. Orm, Siren and Black Manta had threatened him, even stolen from him. He would not let that go unpunished. Just because he no longer wore a crown, didn't mean he was a king without an army. Pulses came out of Arthur's head, like a sonar that echoed through the ocean. He yelled in pain, never having pushed his power like this.

"I want a report immediately, have the ships around Amnesty bay been hit yet?" Manta asked his first met, stepping onto his command submarine.

"Sir, our teams were about to strike, but we've lost contact," the man said.

Manta took a seat on his chair, mechanical arms on it began to replace and upgrade his old pressure suit. It added grey armour to the chest and hands, also adding webbing to his armpits. A grey helmet lowered itself onto his face, tubes on the back of it connected to his backpack, and the red visor glowed as armour was added to Manta's shoulders and neck, fully attaching the helmet and sealing the suit. Manta then bought up numerous holographic screens, showing the helmet and sub cams of his private army.

Squad one attacked a finishing boat, only to be intercepted by Manta's son and the new Aqua girl. Though not dressed for a fight, the pair were dominating the operatives. Brandishing water swords, Jackson cut apart weapons, and Lorena kicked and punched her way through the soldiers. The sight of the two fighting together, put ideas in Manta's head. He was already thinking of ways to make the genetic freak that was once his son suffer. His attention was then drawn to squad four, which had attempted to sink a vessel with a submarine that had a drill attached. The helmet cams of the operatives showed gigantic tentacles reaching for them, pulling the sub away from the ship, and down to the ground below. Likewise Squad three was set upon by sharks of various species and size.

"Well, well Curry, if anyone survives this, they'll take your little 'talk to fish' ability serious next time," Manta mused.

The Sub suddenly began to shake. Outside, a gigantic, crab like creature was holding the end of the sub. A claw cracked through the hull, filling the sub with water. Black Manta huffed as his men scrambled for their diving equipment. He swum out of the sub, firing multiple missiles from his shoulders. The projectiles tore pieces of the crab's hide apart.

"Where are you Curry?" Manta scanned the area, squeezing his hands into fists.

As much as Orm and Siren irked him, he hated Arthur Curry with a passion. But at this point, fighting him in his element was futile, especially with a whole army behind the man now. Without even checking to see if any of his men were alive, Manta began to swim away. Orm and Siren could have their chance for revenge, Manta had other, more productive things to do.

* * *

An international Justice League, one overseen by the government. Kimiyo Hoshi wondered how something that had failed so miserably in the past, work again. Yet still she answered the call, a call too good to pass up. The government was offering her a grant for her research, an opportunity to set her children up for life. Super heroes didn't take money, but Kimiyo was a single mother, a scientist of little success, and if being Dr Light for a government taskforce would help her children, she would do it. But Kimiyo wasn't a fool, she wouldn't place her children under government protection. They were staying with Vixen and B'Wana beast in Africa, whilst Kimiyo also employed the Question and King Faraday to look into the people who recruited her. King had access through government agencies, and Montoya was willing to dig into places others wouldn't.

Dr Light didn't trust him, Manchester could sense that. After all, what kind of organisation would bring him back, the man who had caused chaos in his short lived super hero career. Though the other Elites went on to do good of their own, Manchester Black remembered dying a villain. He remembered one last attempt to ruin Superman. He created an illusion, of all of the villains knowing who Superman was, of his wife dying. Yet still, Superman did not kill, if anything it strengthened his resolve. It was at that moment, that Manchester realised he was the villain. So he killed himself.

But a white light brought him back, saying he had an integral role to play in events to come. Moving through the streets in an armoured truck, Manchester began to get a good idea of what those events would be. He looked at the screens showing what the outer cameras saw. His team mates moved through the streets in their own ways. Tasmanian Devil traversed the rooftops, Ystin flew on her winged horse, Dr Light and Red Star hovered on the streets and the Olympian simply walked. He held his head up high, trying to live up to the lie he had told the team when they first met. Olympian claimed to be the son of Zeus, but after reading his mind, Manchester knew the man was just some Archaeologist who found a lot of relics from Olympus.

"Bunch of Wankers for believing him," he muttered.

"Were you able to get in touch with anyone from the real JLI?" Red Star asked Kimiyo.

"Captain Atom's little team stayed together, but Joker's after the real league, the founders," Dr Light said.

"The original seven?"

"Who else? Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman," Kimiyo huffed, regarding Red Star as if he was an idiot.

"I thought Black Canary was a founding member," Tasmanian Devil said.

"No, why would you think that?" Red Star asked.

"I seem to remember none of the big three being actual founders, or they at least didn't stick around when the team was first formed," Devil explained.

"Look mate, I think it's pretty obvious we can't trust our own memories, reality and time have been screwed with so often that we can't even recognise our own pasts anymore," Manchester explained.

"We have been through a lot of Crisis's that alter reality," Dr Light said.

"Which is pretty much what we can use to explain all the weird shit that doesn't make any sense," a voice said from the rooftops.

Sir Ystin looked down, seeing before anyone else what had been assembled. The knight was suddenly knocked off the winged horse, which whined in agony as flames covered its skin, and worm like monsters gnawed at its wings.

"SIR YSTIN!" Tasmanian Devil yelled.

A large, bald man suddenly landed in the alleyway. He was wearing a straight jacket, buckles hanging off of its arms and back. His hands glowed with fire as he approached Ystin.

"Nice shot Heatlock," that same voice spoke into the minds of the JLI members.

"Oh I don't think so love, telepathy's my shtick," Manchester said.

His eyes glowed blue as he intercepted the attacker's astral form. He and the other telepath, a blonde haired girl in a white coat, stood on an astral version of New York city. Manchester took note of the Union jack on her tank top. The colours of the flag however had been reversed.

"My Earth 3 or Anti-matter counterpart? Or are you from that gender swapped universe?" in truth Manchester didn't even care.

He released psionic blast on the woman, whom created constructs of her team mates.

Heatlock, the counterpart of Coldcast. The construct, and the man himself was already in the process of attacking the JLI. He flew fire at the flyers, forcing them into the path of slithering, insect/reptilian hybrids of Pam's counterpart.

"Nice one Joyce," Heatlock said.

Joyce, a woman with blue scales across her body and bat like wings, smirked as she released her monsters like projectiles. The creatures burst out of her arms, stretching towards Dr Light and attempting to bite her. Kimiyo countered with an energy blast, knocking Joyce through one of the buildings.

"Fedora, bring a little darkness to the party," Joyce said.

A sharply dressed, and sober looking man, removed the fedora from his head. An ink like substance suddenly expanded out of the hat, grabbing Dr Light and pulling her down to the ground.

"Heatlock, Joyce and Fedora, I suppose you're Manchester White right?" Black asked.

"Actually, I'm Yorkshire White," the woman smirked.

Manchester Black remained silent for a moment.

"Tosspot," he remarked, before creating a projection that overcame Yorkshire's.

Not his team mates the Elite, but the very man who beat them. Manchester's Superman projection however, was blonde haired and wore a costume with an Union jack on the chest. He punched White's projections aside and then blew a torrent of wind, forcing her astral form back. In the real world, the woman clutched her head, nearly falling off of the rooftop he stood on. Heatlock threw fire balls at Ystin and Devil, but the knight blocked them with a shield, and the Tasmanian devil jumped and flipped around them. Tasmanian Devil jumped out of the alleyway, beckoning for Heatlock to come at him.

"A fag and a he/she, is this the best the Amerikan syndicate could do?" Heatlock asked.

"Actually Heatlock, on this Earth its America, and the Crime Syndicate haven't taken over," Fedora said.

He put his hat back on his head, turning away from Dr Light's squirming body. The black substance over her suddenly began to crack. Fedora turned just as Kimiyo shattered the substance, her costume shining bright as she fired an energy blast. The magician quickly took off his hat, absorbing the blast with it. He then reached his hand into the hat, and pulled out a whip of thorns. Cracking the whip, he struck, wrapping it around Dr Light as she flew up. With a tug, he altered Kimiyo's flight path, sending her flying into Red Star's back.

"Have at thee cretin," Ystin said, swinging her blade down on Heatlock.

He caught the sword between his hands and threw the knight aside. Tasmanian Devil then rushed towards him, scratching his face. He quickly jumped over the pyrokinetic , slashing him across the back.

"How's that for a fag?" he asked, before punching the man in the face.

Joyce swooped down towards Tasmanian Devil. Only for a shield to hit her in the face. Tasmanian Devil gave Ystin a thumbs up, smiling as the knight picked up the shield.

"Oh dear, this appears to have gone wrong," Fedora said.

"Foxy, teleport us out of here now," Yorkshire White commanded.

"Yeah, and stay gone you tossers," Manchester yelled out.

Dr Light and Red Star hovered down to Manchester's armoured truck, whilst Ystin and Tasmanian both walked back to it. Manchester opened the door, stepping out to meet his team mates.

"I'll tell you, if that's the best they can throw at us, we'll have the city saved in no time," Tasmanian Devil said.

His other team mates groaned, causing him to look at them in confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Why did you say that?" Dr Light asked.

"Yes, now something is certain to go wrong," Red Star groaned.

The wall behind them was suddenly blown apart, and Olympian was sent flying past the team.

"Case in point," Manchester sighed.

He shut the door behind him, taking the truck further up the street. Accessing his team mate's minds, Manchester looked through their eyes. He saw a version of the Riddler, dressed in commando gear of all things, a version of Obsidian composed of pure darkness, wearing only a skull shaped mask. There was also a Solomon Grundy in a Nazi officer's uniform, a red haired woman in a leather coat, wielding a bow and arrow, and a King Shark who didn't resemble a hammer head, but instead was a bulking man with a fin on his head and a set of metal jaws.

"This is far from over," Manchester said

Briefly, the symbol of the white lanterns appeared on his chest.

* * *

Alfred nervously looked at the screen of the bat computer. The bat militia was slowly beating back the Joker's forces, and the Titans were holding their own against the Deathstrike clan. He had muted the box containing Atomica, and made a cup of tea for Godiva, but now his attention was on Gotham's traffic cams. Jason was piloting the new bat mobile well, taking down drones throughout the city. But his counterpart was in a tank with much greater fire power. It was a game of cat and mouse through the corridors of buildings, of a city both pilots were familiar with.

"Forces from other Earths arrive to invade ours, just as you begin revealing yourself to the public, is that coincidence young man?" Alfred asked Sieg.

"Damn those coincidences, they have a habit of turning potential allies against one another, happens all the time on my Earth, a hero gets accused of something, other heroes go after them, those heroes realise they've been idiots and finally team up with the hero to stop the real bad guys. I'd like to skip to that part!" Sieg explained.

"You just described how every 'team up' seems to go on our Earth," Alfred said.

"I know, it's like an overused plot device from a comic book...Alfred!"

"What is it?"

"Why am I looking at a costume with nipples on it?"

Alfred sighed, running a hand over his face. "That costume was from a period in the nineties we'd like to forget!"

"This thing actually shows off the crotch, and the ass," Sieg said.

"Oooh, can I come and look?" Godiva asked.

"I'd rather you'd keep an eye on our prisoner," Alfred said.

"She's in a prison that disables her powers, I can't imagine her being much of a threat," Godiva said.

"That's what they all say about...damn," Alfred snarled.

"What is it?" Sieg asked.

"Perimeter alarms have been breached, we have some intruders coming towards us," Alfred highlighted the camera views of the mansion grounds.

The front gate had been torn off by a dark skinned man, wearing a red and white outfit, a club symbol covered his eye. The number 10, indicated his role and position in the Royal Flush gang. Beside him walked King, though not one Alfred recognised. In fact, this wasn't even the Royal Flush gang Sieg encountered earlier. Their kin was a man with a goatee, wearing a red coat and carrying a sceptre. Jack was a blonde haired man who could stretch his limbs. Queen wore a red, V-line outfit and had a club symbol on her forehead, and numerous metal objects floated around her.

"Well this is just great, I'll activate perimeter defences," Alfred said.

"Not necessary," Sieg said as he stepped out of the armoury.

"Ah, I suppose that prototype could use a test run," are you sure you want to risk using it?" Alfred asked.

Godiva whistled, impressed by the new costume Sieg wore. It was a black bodysuit with grey armoured padding on the gloves, boots, knees and shoulders. A red bat symbol was emblazed on the chest, cargo pouches were attached to his hips, with a red dial at the centre of it. The costume was different from most bat-suits, as it the cowl wasn't attached to a cape, in fact the suit didn't even have a cape. Red lines glowed on the soles of the boots, on the wrists and around the neck. The mask had a grey mouth guard covering Sieg's entire face.

"I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out," Sieg said.

At that moment, a pair of wings slid out of the suit's arm pits.

"Wow, why put nipples on a costume when you can put wings on it? this suits beyond anything I found in there!"

"You're wearing the bat suit of the future young man, how does it feel?" Alfred asked.

"It feels...Shway!"

Next Chapter 6: Sieges

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Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, sorry the update had taken so long. You guys must all know who Deathpool is right :)

The Royal Flush gang is from the DCAU, or at least a version of it, and yes we'll see Ace in the future. Anyone liked my shots at the 90's bat films (or at least their costume designs) and the suit Sieg came out in is a prototype version of the suit from Batman Beyond, the design was based on a fan art I saw on deviantart by Bobkitty23-check out his awesome redesigns of characters.

Next time, Sieg tests out the new suit, Clark returns to Metropolis to find trouble and the super hero community suffers another great loss.


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